In an effort to contribute to the rising body-positivity movement, R&DE makes major changes in the dining halls to encourage inclusivity for one of the most historically marginalized groups on campus: tiny, petite little girls like me. With the implementation of smaller plate sizes across campus, administration is standing up to a world where “size doesn’t matter” and committing to a new social justice cause.
Many petitely-challenged students, including 5-foot, no inches, 86-pound Grace Lampard (’26), praised R&DE for their heartwarming show of solidarity. “It’s just so comforting to know who the allies for our community are,” Grace told The Flipside, “It’s so rare for people these days to publicly support girls like me. I used to struggle to hold last year’s massive plates. Now, I truly feel seen… which is hard sometimes because I’m so little, and cute, and very small.”
Along with Lampard, other itty-bitty students, organized under the name “Stanford Mission for the Ousting of Little-phobia” (SMOL), have begun a movement to continue the momentum started by R&DE, claiming that the plate size reduction is a huge step in the right direction, but there is always more to be done. Stanford president Richard Saller agrees with the sentiment: “Sometimes it’s hard being the most petite and temporary president Stanford has ever had, but it’s so important to be the representation that I never got to see growing up.”
SMOL was last seen protesting at Tressider, urging Subway to swap out their classic “footlong” for a more-appropriately-sized “inchlong”, in an effort to continue the wave of progress. Inspired by this year’s display of inclusivity, the petite students of Stanford will not stop until R&DE reduces the meal plan from the downright-wasteful fifteen meals a week to a much more reasonable two meals a week. Stanford’s tiniest students remain short in stature, but high in spirits.
