Don’t Just Wish for It, Work for It, and Keep It Going
By Naazish YarKhan
Mar/Apr 25
In November 2024, Northwestern University made waves among its Muslim students when sophomore Nur Yalinbas spotted bacon labeled as “halal” in the dining hall. She double checked with dining hall staff if the food was indeed halal. She also asked if it was bacon. The staff member responded in the affirmative to both questions.
Weinberg College freshman Rayan Lahlou-Nabil shared similar stories of mislabeled food and cross-contamination, like pork placed next to halal chicken or workers using the same gloves for everything, as reported by the campus newspaper, The Daily Northwestern. There were instances where wine was mentioned as an ingredient in recipes for foods labeled as “halal”, only for students to be told it was a “database error”. Repeated incidents like this have made it hard for students here to trust the food they’re served.
Muslim students say the administration hasn’t addressed these concerns. For years, Yalinbas and others in the Muslim-cultural Student Association pushed for better labels, proper training for staff on halal standards, and separate halal stations like the kosher stations in two of the dining halls. At the end of the day, it’s not just about food – it’s about feeling like you belong, contend these students.
An increasing awareness of the concept of halal among administrators and service providers, the growing availability of halal foods, and the certification of kitchens by certifiers such as Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), have made halal food on U.S. college campuses far more common. Still, it’s not ubiquitous.
“At Northern Illinois University, even in 2024, we have no halal dining. Even our vegan and vegetarian options are very limited,” says Arif Khan, a freshman. “It feels like the school isn’t inclusive nor cares about our religious needs. It makes me consider transferring to Illinois institutions that are.”
While it is easy to feel discouraged in an age where instantaneous results feel like a birthright, Muslim students must strive to inspire change through the right avenues. “Like all students, Muslim students will benefit from communicating intentionally, proactively, and respectfully. . . about their unique situation and particular needs. This is especially true during Ramadan,” reads the University of San Diego Muslim Student Life page.
The school has a dining hall that stays open late during Ramadan and offers take-out for suhoor. While this is a win for Muslim students, they may have requirements, too. To facilitate such conversations, three email templates have been provided for students to customize.
It bears remembering that success has always been rooted in student advocacy whether garnering assistance towards bringing halal services to campus, or improving dining hall standards. Nowhere is this more evident than when reflecting on the inroads halal food has made across U.S. campuses.
Want Something? Work to Make it Happen.
In 1999, a freshman at Virginia Tech found himself in a quandary. Obligated to live on campus in the dorms and pay for the meal plan, he found his requests for halal food options ignored. When salads, pasta, and bread were cited as alternatives by the school, he demanded equal service for equal fees. His parents rallied too. If they were paying the same as every other student for meals, why didn’t their son have the same access to foods that he could actually consume?
For many Muslims like them, questions swirled around vegetarian options, too. Could they be sure the rice and beans their child was consuming had no cross-contamination with meats previously cooked on the same surface? What about the french fries? Were those cooked in oil that may have been used for other meats? Were the baked treats and biscuits ever made with lard? Were salads invariably dressed with bacon bits? In fact, in 1990, McDonald had proudly announced that it had started frying French fries only in vegetable oil without added tallow, only after it was sued by a California Hindu attorney.
Despite having an MSA on campus, it was the first time in Virginia Tech’s history that a Muslim student had made such dietary demands. Perhaps it was the fear of possible legal trouble but the school acquiesced. However, the paucity of resources on halal food options at that time meant the student and his family had to help the school find a halal meat distributor or vendor who met its various requirements and regulations. Working with Al Safa Halal, Virginia Tech’s first halal window was inaugurated a year later, in January 2000.
It Takes a Community
In 1999, MSA-National launched the Muslims Accommodations Task Force (MATF), an initiative intended to help students advocate for their religious needs – halal food options, prayer spaces, and other necessities of Muslim student life. Using its successful campaign with Villanova University as a template, MATF created a step-by-step manual guiding students how to lobby and guide school administrators. It even connected students to those who’d pulled it off successfully on their respective campus. The guide continues to be used to date.
At Dartmouth, university authorities adopted Muslim students’ burgeoning demands as a means to promote cooperation and understanding in the shadow of 9/11. In October 2004, Yale offered a Ramadan halal food facility for the first time. It was in response to the MSA’s signature campaigns and a demand for rebates since students were opening their fasts and eating elsewhere each night. Also in Fall 2004, the Muslim community at NYU secured their right to halal meals. On September 4, 2006, Texas A&M was the first college in Texas to offer halal food on its campus, as reported by The Battalion. Once students had petitioned successfully for administrative support, Nadeem Siddiqui, former executive director for dining services (now assistant vice president of campus dining at Princeton), helped implement the program, just as he had done with halal and kosher food programs at Cornell University and Stanford University. In October 2006, during Ramadan, the MSA of Hofstra University secured its first halal food facility at one dining hall. The school’s Committee for Religious and Spiritual Life had supported their Muslim students’ campaign.
It Takes Time
The University of Chicago (UChicago) introduced its halal food services in 2011; it reflects the unrelenting collaboration between its MSA and campus Dining Services. The effort, first initiated in 2006, began with the MSA reaching out to Dining Services with Ramadan needs.
“The students wanted dates, fruits, fruit juices and asked how we could provide them, so they could break their fast, since our dining halls would close by then,” said Richard Mason, executive director of UChicago Dining, in an interview with Halal Consumer Magazine.
At San Diego State University, the Warren College marketplace, when launched in 2020, was deemed “the largest halal-certified residential dining facility in the nation.” A huge win for inclusivity. More than seven years prior, a seed had been planted when students from the Union of Jewish Students and the Muslim Student Association “lobbied for more halal and kosher options.” The school’s Housing, Dining, and Hospitality team partnered with IFANCA to create a fully halal eatery in 2020. Hundreds of recipes were reviewed as were over 1,000 ingredients from seven vendors, according to UC San Diego Today. Today, the school also offers frozen and fresh halal-certified food options at all its Aztec Markets. These are made in-house on SDSU’s campus and labeled as halal. The Halal Shack, a fast-casual national restaurant chain, too, has found a home amongst campus restaurants within East Commons.
Making halal a campus priority has been a long journey. Even in 1972, the fledgling MSA at Syracuse University successfully lobbied the food service department to allow Muslim students to be served at iftar time, and to pre-order takeout packaged food for suhoor. Halal options were really slim, besides eggs, vegetarian dishes, and some alcohol and bacon free salads. There is a long road ahead at so many more schools.
Keys to Halal Success on Campus
Find Allies: Allies are important. Your efforts could carry more weight when collaborating with other student populations that also observe dietary restrictions such as Hindus, Jews,, and Orthodox Christians.
If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail A well-planned and strategic approach is vital. So is the awareness that success may or may not happen during one’s time on campus and efforts cannot be left to wilt when students graduate. There has to be documentation, and a formalized hand-off between batches. Saalika Mela (UC ‘13; Cambridge, G ‘14), one of the MSA members who collaborated with UChicago Dining and Undergraduate Student Housing to make halal on campus a reality, discussed how halal would help recruit Muslim students. The MSA also conducted surveys on Muslim students’ satisfaction with dining hall food, their needs, what they would like to see more of, and food contamination issues.
Use it or Lose it According to the MATF, “a number of campus halal food programs have discontinued or failed. The top reasons for failure? Yucky food, lack of variety, and inadequate Muslim student commitment.” Just getting halal food on campus isn’t enough. If students don’t actually use their halal service — especially if the options are bland or unappealing — the university might decide to shut it down. Reviving it could be hard. At Stanford, where halal food has been available since 1997, students are smart about spreading the word to the whole community. Educating fellow Muslims and non-Muslims on campus is also about encouraging them to see halal as the preferred choice, the best option, not just a necessity for those who observe the practice.
Variety Sells As important is ensuring Dining Services understand that the Muslim palette is not relegated to one regional cuisine. At University of Chicago, multiple dining halls offer a range of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and other halal cuisines. So popular is the variety that even those who don’t observe halal for religious reasons have reason to eat it.
At a time when so much about the future seems foreboding, and so much in the world seems wrong, it’s worth remembering that change can happen. That even rocks and mountains crack under the consistent deluge of water. The caveat? It takes time. Further, we can’t just wish for it, we must work for it. Relentlessly.
Naazish YarKhan is a college essay coach. The owner of WritersStudio.us, her writing has been translated into several languages, and featured in more than 50 media platforms including NPR, Chicago Tribune, and in anthologies.