My name is Jessika Hopper and I live in Gainesville, FL. I've always thought of Gainesville as a more progressive city when it comes to animals and the environment. That is why I was so shocked to learn that the Stephen C. O'Connell Center at the University of Florida, Home of the Gators, contracts with Centerplate. I know Centerplate as the food service company that had a CEO who abused a puppy, but now it turns out that's only the beginning of the story. 

Centerplate serves customers eggs from cruel, filthy, and unsustainable battery-cage farms.  Battery cage farms pack egg-laying hens so tightly into tiny wire cages that they can’t even spread out their wings or engage in any of their natural behaviors. This archaic practice is so cruel that it is illegal in the entire European Union and several states in the US.

Other major companies like Aramark, Sodexo, McDonalds, and more have made commitments to phase out this horrible practice from their supply chain. Centerplate has failed to make any commitment on this issue, and has even refused to talk with representatives of The Humane League, an animal protection organization that I volunteer for.  

Why then is the Stephen C. O'Connell Center contracting with a hospitality company like Centerplate?  By contracting with Centerplate, the Stephen C. O'Connell Center is directly supporting this cruel practice.  When I learned that this cruelty was being supported in my hometown, I knew that I had to do something about this problem. Please, sign my petition and let the Stephen C. O'Connell Center know that consumers do not want to be supporting this kind of extreme animal cruelty with their dining dollars. It's time for the Stephen C. O'Connell Center to do the right thing and end their support of farms that still use outdated battery cage systems.