Paul Quinn College of Dallas, Texas, has banned pork from the college Cafetaria, USA Today reports.

The College president says the decision to ban was not arbitrary, but based on a much broader institutional philosophy.

"When you come to college, you come to be educated," Sorrell said. "We thought we could do more in the area of promoting healthy lifestyle choices and healthy eating habits."

In a brief statement announcing the decision Tuesday, Sorrell put it like this: "Eating pork can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, sodium retention and heart problems, not to mention weight gain and obesity. Therefore, as a part of our continued effort to improve the lives and health of our students, Paul Quinn College and its food service partner Perkins Management have collaborated to create a pork-free cafeteria."

Sorrell framed the move as just another step in Paul Quinn's crusade for healthier students, staff and community members. The college had already started reducing the availability of fast food, pork and other fatty and sweet foods, adding salad options instead.

The health problems Sorrell wants to head off are more common among the demographic the historically black college serves: low-income, minority students.

However, Ceci Snyder, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the National Pork Board, disputed Sorrell's claims regarding the health risks of consuming pork.

The no-pork idea is unlikely to catch on at other colleges, said Rachel A. Warner, director of communications and marketing at the National Association of College and University Food Services.

"Colleges and universities will cater to whatever their student population wants," Warner said. "So if there was a large demand, for example, for a specific type of protein or menu item, they'll usually provide that. But normally our schools try to increase the diversity of their menu, as opposed to decrease it."

Pork has been the center of a campus controversy before. Brandeis University unsettled some of its Jewish supporters in 1987, when the administration added pork and shellfish to campus dining halls to appeal to international students. The university already served many non-Kosher options, but pork and shellfish are of particular symbolic significance to many Jews.