Who woulda thunk? Kent State is in the running for peta2’s Most Vegan-Friendly Colleges competition.

To be honest, that came out of nowhere. While the university has been working to expand it’s on-campus vegetarian and vegan options, we never expected Kent State to get recognition for it.

We’re running with schools such as New York University, Berkeley and University of Maryland. That’s a big deal.

Although we support PETA’s efforts in animal activism, their extremist pressures have pushed us away in the past. But we’re happy peta2 has influenced the university and proud of dining services for welcoming diversity and acting upon it, even if it is just food.

The way people talk about our on-campus food options would make you think we’re being poisoned — fried food and dead animals galore. But low and behold, dining services has been working with the students to make a more vegetarian and vegan-friendly menu.

Kent, in general, is quite the liberal breeding ground for free expression, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. With the Kent Natural Foods Co-op downtown, Kent has been friendly to vegans for a while now.

So with Veggie A-Go-Go at Eastway and Prentice, and vegan options in the markets, dining services has extended a hand to students who don’t have the option to buy food off campus. Maybe even a few carnivores will muster up the courage and try some vegan dishes.

Whether or not we win, or at least rank in the top 10, it’s nice to know Kent State is striving to be a diverse university in every aspect.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.