Seattle University currently purchases the majority of their poultry from Tyson Foods, Inc. which is a cruel and unsustainable factory farm chain.  Within the farms the chickens are raised in, each chicken is allowed 0.7 square feet of floor space (not including space for their food and water).  Many chickens have the tips of their beaks burned off near the beginning of their life to avoid pecking at one another.  Many develop open sores and inflamed patches of skin from sitting on fecal waste; each chicken house is only cleaned out every 18 months.  As soon as 7 or 8 weeks after a chicken has arrived, they weigh around 6 pounds and are packed up in small, suffocating boxes to be shipped off to a slaughter house.  The conditions at these slaughter houses are even worse than the farms.  During multiple  investigations around these facilities, workers regularly ripped conscious birds heads off,  stomped on them, slammed them into walls, and spit on fully conscious chickens.  Workers were also found urinating in the area the chickens were being hung after slaughtered, and letting improper slaughter machines go lengths of time without being fixed. 

Along with the brutal conditions and cruel treatment Tyson overlooks, they have been involved in several large lawsuits related to air and water pollution.  In one lawsuit, the company paid $7.5 million in fines alone, not including the millions paid to the federal government, multiple school funds, and resource protection funds.  Along with lawsuits, they have been charged multiple times for smuggling undocumented workers to work on their production lines.  Furthermore, they have been caught twice for misrepresenting the antibiotics being used in their products, forcing them to change their labeling on packages and advertising both times.

As a university, Seattle U already supports and supplies hormone free, cage-free/free-range, healthier, higher quality dairy and beef.  It's time for Seattle University to apply those conditions to their chicken products as well and fully polish their dining services as a university.  Please sign the petition asking Seattle University to remove Tyson products from our university!