University of Michigan cafés change default milk option from dairy to oat as part of climate agenda
‘Oat milk has become the default milk in our barista-made cafe beverage recipes,’ a spokesperson told Campus Reform.
The spokesperson called it a ‘a more sustainable option [that] has less of a carbon impact than other options.’
The University of Michigan’s cafés and markets are offering students oat milk as the default option when ordering beverages in order to promote a climate agenda.
Michigan Dining, a collection of “twelve on-campus cafés and seven markets, seven residential dining halls, the Michigan Bakery and the Michigan Catering unit,” has replaced dairy milk with oat milk as the default milk option in the Fall semester of 2024 in certain facilities.
A Michigan Dining spokesperson confirmed the change to Campus Reform, writing: “Oat milk has become the default milk in our barista-made cafe beverage recipes. However, the wide array of milk options has not changed. Students and guests can choose whichever milk they’d prefer in their drinks. These include dairy and plant-based options. In the dining halls, no milk options have changed.”
The spokesperson clarified that the change was made because oat milk is “a more sustainable option and has less of a carbon impact than other options.”
“The culinary teams do not follow the oat milk standard for dining hall recipes,” as the change only applies to “barista-made drinks only in the cafes and markets operated by Michigan Dining,” the spokesperson confirmed.
The University of Michigan is not the only college to make the switch to plant-based alternatives instead of traditional dairy milk. On-campus cafés at the University of San Diego and Pomona College have also made oak milk the default option for clients.
The change comes as many other universities are focusing on promoting a climate-centered agenda through different classes and programs.
Several colleges, including Middlebury College and Bard College in New York, and Kalamazoo College in Michigan, took part in a “Worldwide Climate and Justice Education Week” in 2024 that featured events like a “Meatless Monday.”
The University of California, San Diego has also recently begun requiring incoming students to fulfill a “Climate Change Education Requirement” if they want to graduate, and the University of Southern California could very soon institute a similar mandate.
