An opinion essay by a Stanford University undergraduate has sparked debate after claiming that some students falsely identify as followers of Jainism to avoid the university’s costly mandatory meal plan.
The essay, written by Elsa Johnson, a 21-year-old junior, was published in The New York Times. In it, Johnson alleges that students misuse religious accommodation rules to opt out of Stanford’s meal plan, which costs $7,944, or about Rs 7.17 lakh, for the 2025–26 academic year.
Stanford requires most students living on campus to enrol in a university meal plan. However, exemptions are allowed on religious or medical grounds if dining services cannot reasonably meet a student’s needs.
Johnson claims that some students say they follow the Jain faith to qualify for these exemptions, even though they do not practise the religion. Jain dietary rules prohibit eating root vegetables and any food that may harm living beings, including insects.
“The gaming even extends to our meals,” Johnson writes. “Students I know claim to be devout members of the Jain faith, which rejects any food that may cause harm to all living creatures — including small insects and root vegetables.”
She further adds that these students then use their meal money at premium grocery stores.
“The students I know who claim to be Jain (but aren’t) spend their meal money at Whole Foods instead and enjoy freshly made salads and other yummy dishes, while the rest of us are stuck with college meals, like burgers made partly from ‘mushroom mix’,” she writes.
Johnson argues that university administrators find it difficult to challenge such claims. “Administrators seem powerless to reform the system and frankly don’t seem to care. How do you prove someone doesn’t have anxiety? How do you verify they don’t need extra time on a test? How do you challenge a religious dietary claim without risking a discrimination lawsuit?” she questions.
She places the issue within a broader campus culture where students openly discuss how to “optimise” university rules. “The students aren’t exactly cheating and if they are, can you blame them? Stanford has made gaming the system the logical choice.”
