It's been years since my high school biology class, but I still remember the smell of the rotting pig corpses that we mutilated over the course of a nightmarish three-day lab. Piled in the corner of the room in a black garbage bag, the carcasses emanated a rancid smell that only got worse each day, and after each lab period, we all ate lunch in the same room—the lab doubled as our cafeteria.

Today, though, it's the sweet smell of victory that I'm waking up to. Nine months ago, a compassionate student at Oakton Community College contacted PETA about a professor who was having students in an anatomy and physiology class cut open live rats and mudpuppies to observe how their organs worked. We immediately contacted school officials to share information on the intelligent, complex animals who were being tormented and killed for these experiments and presented officials with cruelty-free and effective educational alternatives. This week, Oakton Community College let us know that it has stopped using live animals in ALL of its classes!

shiachat / CC

We're urging all schools (hear that, ASU?) to follow Oakton's enlightened path and replace their cruel classroom animal experiments with modern, more effective non-animal learning methods. Biology is the study of life—it just doesn't make any sense to kill animals to teach it. Urge schools in your area to get smart and go cruelty-free.

Posted by Logan Scherer

sugarslam / CC

If there's one thing I like, it's a guy who knows how to work a microwave. That might sound weird, but hear me out. For the past many months, my friend Starza and I have been working hard to bring you PETA's Vegan College Cookbook: 275 Easy, Cheap, and Delicious Recipes to Keep You Vegan at School. Here's the really exciting part: The most complicated cooking contraption you'll need for these recipes is a microwave!

What does this all have to do with Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson? Well, as it turns out, the lovely Mr. Pattinson loves microwaves too. According to an interview with Pattinson in the April issue of GQ, "He explains that the place he's staying at in L.A. has a microwave, and that he's never had a microwave before, and that he spends a lot of time looking for new things you can microwave." Including a carrot! Talk about a match made in heaven (meaning Pattinson and the cookbook, not him and me—although, now that I think about it …).

Anyway, I can't imagine a more perfect gift for him right now than PETA's Vegan College Cookbook, which is exactly why we sent one his way today. After all, the cookbook is perfect for any busy person—whether you're a college student or a movie star. Wouldn't it be awesome if he realized how easy it is to be vegetarian and gave up the flesh?

Now, the cookbook doesn't come out until May, but here's a sneak peek at a recipe you can sink your teeth into right now!

Campus Streaker Sausage Dip

Great for when you're on the run.

14-oz. vegan sausage

2 10-oz. containers vegan cream cheese, room temperature

1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained

• Crumble the sausage as best you can and stir it into the cream cheese and tomatoes until evenly blended. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes or until hot.
• Serve with tortilla chips.

Makes 8 servings

Posted by Marta Holmberg

P.S. If you're as ridiculously obsessed with corny infomercials as I am, you'll love our cookbook infomercial!

I can’t think why, but apparently, the good folks at New Hampshire Community Technical College-Manchester have grown unhappy with their institution’s name. I guess it’s possible that they thought it was a bit on the boring side. Or perhaps just a teensy bit unwieldy?

Either way, as of last week, their long wait for an exciting new moniker is over, since the kindhearted souls in PETA’s Vegan Campaigns Department had a little brainstorming session and decided to offer them this striking suggestion:

It has a real ring to it, doesn’t it? Something about the alliteration, maybe. If they like our idea, not only will NHCTC students be able to hold their heads high with the knowledge that their school finally has a genuinely interesting name, but they’ll be sending a strong message that their progressive institution opposes cruelty to animals in all its forms. Plus, in case they need an incentive beyond the good they’ll be doing for the chickens abused for KFC’s restaurants, I can assure them that name changes like that tend to get a whole lot of publicity …

You can read our letter to the school here. We haven’t heard back from them yet for some reason, but I’ll let you know when we do.

Those overeducated academics over at peta2 have just released their annual list of the top 40 vegetarian-friendly colleges in the United States, so if you want to show a little love for your alma mater or your hometown school, you can cast your vote here. The school with the best vegetarian options will be announced in the second week of November, so there’s still a bit of time to vote. The contest has already been getting some good press in college newspapers across the country, including this piece in Yale’s newsletter, and this little vignette from ASU.

My school a) didn’t have a cafeteria to speak of, and b) wasn’t in the U.S., so I went ahead and voted for Berkeley—because Berkeley is beautiful, and they have vegan chicken nuggets. You can vote for your favorite here.