As a vegetarian and a member of the environmental residential program on campus, believe me, I am fully aware that people might see me as a bit of a “hippie.”

But I think I can say with reasonable confidence that when it comes to animal or environmental activism, I’m not a nut job.

I like to try to make positive impacts, sure.

But, like most people, I think the extreme and sometimes harmful techniques PETA uses often are completely unacceptable. That’s why when I heard about a new animal rights club, I couldn’t help but be a bit cautious.

The club is called SPAR, or Students Promoting Animal Rights. SPAR existed previously at MSU, but was often condemned, much like PETA, for using radical methods to achieve its goals.

SPAR now is under new leadership, and President Alexis Hinson has decided to completely reinvent the way the group will operate.

“We’re basically a brand new group,” Hinson said. “We’re really looking forward to building it up again.”

Hinson, a freshman, had the idea to start a club focusing on animal rights since the fall semester. With the help of Dr. Laurie Thorp, the director of the RISE, or Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment, program, Hinson got together with graduate advisors and worked tirelessly to get the club up and running.

“While PETA has accomplished some really great things, a lot of people feel that the way they go about making change is too extreme,” she said.

“We want to work with the MSU community of students and faculty to make changes and promote animal welfare, and we want to do it in a way that is cooperative and logical,” Hinson said.

The group has met twice since the spring semester began, and has since gained a decent membership size for a brand new club.

As an attendee of these meetings, I found Hinson’s reform of the group to be more rational and accommodating and already was making a change in the way people looked at animal activists.

Quite a few of the new members said they were nervous to come at first because they didn’t want to get involved with a PETA-wannabe group. After the first meeting, however, even some of the more reluctant students agreed this new club was nothing like PETA.

SPAR might have just started up this semester, but it already has a full agenda for the rest of the year. Some of the scheduled activities in the group’s future include petitioning to halt wolf-hunting legislation, touring the MSU dairy farm to observe the cow’s living conditions and volunteering at animal shelters in the East Lansing and Lansing areas.

“We only have a few months left of school this semester,” Hinson said.

“So there aren’t too many huge projects we can take on right now. We can definitely start them, though, and plan our actions for next year. Then, in the fall, hopefully we’ll have a large enough membership that we’ll be able to take on larger tasks and start adding accomplished goals to the group’s repertoire.

After having gotten involved with SPAR, any skepticism or doubts I might have had about the group have been squandered.

Animal rights might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but those who want to now have a new chance to get involved.

The meetings provide a very accepting environment, where anyone who has an idea for a project or activity can be heard and taken seriously.

Everyone in the group obviously cares about animal welfare, but by no means are there any expectations for members to be vegan, vegetarian or do an extreme amount of activism outside the club.

For the average student who wants to get involved, but does not want to go overboard with advocating animal rights, SPAR has proven to be the perfect opportunity.

For more information about SPAR, contact sparmsu@gmail.com.

Kira Bucksbaum is a guest columnist at The State News and a no preference freshman. Reach her at bucksba1@msu.edu.