Mount Hood

A vegan’s guide to eating cleaner in Monmouth

By Jenna Beresheim
 Staff Writer

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No dairy, no eggs, and certainly no meat. Welcome to the diet of a vegan, a concept that can be confounding and confusing – both for non-vegans and even the most seasoned vegan, alike.

Not all vegans are made the same, though. While some are modified vegetarians who merely abstain from meat, others fall on the opposite end of the spectrum: refusing to buy any products that come from animals, such as leather or honey.

Whichever kind of vegan you find yourself to be, one common enemy is the act of eating out in a restaurant.

As you can imagine, being a vegan in college can be difficult with these standards. Healthy options are difficult to find cheap, and often times the most cluttered of menus will hold one to two options.

If you find those options despicable, picking another one from the menu and removing half of the items from it also works—despite the odd looks from your waiter. Pepperoni pizza sans pepperoni and cheese, please.

Since veganism is on the rise, it is becoming more common to see menus that promote veganism. Even in small towns like Monmouth.

For starters, Yeasty Beasty is a vegan-friendly pizza place, minutes away from campus on Monmouth Avenue.

“Our dough is vegan,” said Yeasty’s owner, Tom Jones. “We try our best to accommodate. We can always remove meat or cheese, or even make it gluten free.”

Jones’ personal favorite on the menu is the Greek Veggie Beasty, and he suggests substituting pesto as a great alternative to other sauces. On the menu there are over seven items that are vegetarian, all of which can be altered to accommodate vegan preferences.

Besides pizza is the recently-opened Momiji Sushi Bar and Restaurant.

“I have a girl who’s vegan who comes in here, and every time I make her something personalized,” said Jeff Berneski, the owner of the restaurant.

While the menu sports its own vegetarian section of six different roll choices, this place is open to altering and subbing foods as needed.

“I’m always open to changing it up —I want to cater to you,” Berneski said.

Don’t worry. There’s more. Koyote’s Tacos is a block away and a popular spot for many, including Ruby Tidwell, a Western student who was raised vegetarian.

“The staff is always friendly and more than happy to customize anything on the menu, which lends itself to many veg-friendly or gluten-free choices,” Tidwell said.

Ultimately, altered diets are coming into their own place amidst the restaurant community.

As a vegan myself, I recommend keeping an open mind and always staying educated. Know that some foods are fried in animal oils or cooked with animal fats, and what your range of acceptable foods are.

Fellow vegan and senior, Brittany App, said, “It’s tough being vegan in a small town, but I am glad for the options we have here and that they are willing to work with us.”

Dr. Rex Fuller set to take over Western presidency

By Jack Armstrong
 News Editor

Western has announced Dr. Rex Fuller as the new president of the university, effective on July 1, 2015. Fuller will be taking over for president Mark Weiss, retiring June 30, 2015.

Weiss announced his retirement at the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year and a committee was appointed to find his replacement. Members of the committee included representatives from the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, the Western board of trustees, and the president’s office.

Fuller was selected from a group of four finalists which also included Dr. Fernando Delgado, Dr. Margaret Madden, and Dr. Christopher Ames.

The four finalists were further vetted after their announcement on March 30. All of the candidates were interviewed both behind closed doors, and in an open-to-the-public, town hall style forum.

Once the interview process was completed, Western’s committee passed their recommendation for selection on to the OSBHE. The State Board voted Fuller in as the official replacement April 16.

Fuller received his undergraduate degree from California State-Chico, and proceeded to get his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Utah.

Fuller will begin his time as the 23rd Western president this summer by leaving his current position as provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at Eastern Washington University, which he has held since 2010.

“Being a provost and serving as a vice president is a full time job,” Fuller said. “It can be all consuming.”

The transition to his new position is promising for Fuller, who said, “being a provost is almost exclusively an internal administrative job, but the presidency gives me a chance to work out and about on campus.”

While the title of president will be new, Fuller is no stranger to the administrative side of university life. He started his current carrier path serving as a full-time dean for more than 20 years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Colorado State University.

Fuller has made his way to EWU, which has around 13,000 students, more than double the size of Western’s student body. Fuller said he believes that this smaller size can be advantageous to Western’s approach to recruitment.

“Western is small enough to have conversations with all of the faculty and students on a regular basis,” Fuller said. “But, we are still large enough to have the academic diversity of a regionally comprehensive university.”

Regionally comprehensive universities like Western typically offer a broad spectrum of academic programs from science to the liberal arts. They were originally created to service a specific region within a state, but always have more of a focus on teaching as supposed to research.

Western still remains a unique challenge for Fuller though, and he looks forward to expanding the university in any way he can.

“Western has the opportunity to draw students from throughout the I-5 corridor,” He said. “We have to make the case for why Western is the best choice, a very positive choice. We have to reach out to the community.”

Overall growth is a long term goal for Fuller; in the interim, he intends to focus on getting to know the new board of trustees that will take the place of the Oregon University System board here at Western.

“My first few months will be working with the new legislative board and getting to know my new team,” he said. “I think it’s an advantage to work with the new independent board; I’ve worked in both systems and the independent universities have more control over their own destinies.”

Fuller added: “I’ve always aspired to be a university president; it is the right moment for this opportunity for my wife and I, and we are really excited to have been selected. Western has a great tradition of success and excellence and we look forward to being a part of that.”