The Oxy Veg Club was created in the Fall of 2011 by Brandilyn Tebo '15.
In the fall of 2012, Veg Club began hosting weekly Saturday night dinners, which have helped foster a community around veganism at the school. Moreover, the dinners have given the club a forum to contribute to the campus conversation on food, justice, and environmentalism.
The club also organizes around animal rights issues, hosts activist training conferences, visits local animal sanctuaries, fundraises for various causes, takes trips to nearby vegan restaurants, brings speakers to campus, offers cooking classes, and spreads awareness about food issues.
Professor Caroline Heldman serves as the club's advisor.
2013-14 Oxy Veg Club Board President: Brandilyn Tebo Vice President: Elise Hanson Media: Emily Linebarger Treasurer: Anna Gregor
Brandilyn Tebo
Brandilyn is a third year Politics major/Sociology minor who grew up splitting her time between Schnecksville, Pennsylvania and Boulder, Colorado.
Brandi has been vegetarian for 7 years and Vegan for 4. She founded Veg Club during her first semester during freshman year. This past summer, she helped rehabilitate farm animals at the Gentle Barn animal sanctuary in Santa Clarita. She is now a Campus Rep for PETA2, public speaker for humane education and activist organizer.
Brandi's favorite vegan food is a banana dipped in almond butter and if she were a vegetable, she would definitely be an artichoke because the heart is the sweetest part and she blooms in the spring :)
Elise Hanson
Elise is a senior Biology major with a concentration in Environmental Science from San Diego, CA.
She initially chose to be vegan for environmental reasons. Elise spent a semester abroad in New Zealand, serendipitously living with two vegans, and learned about the global effects of food choices made by one person on an island bobbing in the Pacific.
When she is let loose in the world outside of Oxy she hopes to go into conservation biology and dedicate herself to protecting habitat from a myriad of threats, including the conversion of wilderness into pasture.
If Elise were a vegetable she would be a beet because they are delicious and are used to dye things pink (which is the best color in the world).
Emily Linebarger
Emily is a sophomore DWA and Economics double major from Tallequah, OK. She has been vegetarian since age fifteen and vegan since her first semester in college.
She is a Resident Advisor and is also involved in OxyPreneurship, DancePro and working at the Circulation Desk for the Library. Emily enjoys event planning, cooking, running, art, culture, travel, and the possibility to making a difference in the world. Her favorite foods are vegan Pad Thai and mangoes. If she were a vegetable, she would be a radish because she looks innocent at first, but there is a real kick behind that sweet exterior.
Anna Gregor
Anna Gregor is a Kinesiology major and Art minor from Lakeside, California. Anna has been vegetarian for two years and has experimented with veganism.
Anna chose a more plant-based diet for health, ethical, and environmental reasons. She believes that food is the most powerful medicine and that awareness and education concerning the benefits of a whole food, plant-based diet is the most powerful weapon in the fight against obesity and chronic disease.
Dr. Caroline Heldman
Dr. Caroline Heldman, Chair of Occidental's Politics Department, serves as club advisor. In addition to advocating for animal rights, Heldman organizes around issues of class, sex, and racial inequality. Her research has been featured in many of today's leading media outlets, and focuses on the presidency and systems of power in U.S. Politics.