Lately in the bi-college community, a controversial issue has arisen over the use of animal experimentation in the classroom setting. The recent article in the Bi-College News, entitled "More than just a grade: lab experiments on animals stir debate in bi-co community" exemplified this. The article discusses both viewpoints on the matter. Because there are so many opinions on the matter of animal dissection, the stake truly at hand at the moment is whether students are granted a choice to dissect or not to dissect.
The newly formed Animal Rights group at Bryn Mawr has been involved in this matter. The group initially was part of the Greens as a committee, but became a separate group this past semester in order to have a more active voice on campus. Members of the group feel that the lack of alternatives in biology and psychology classes fails to meet the needs of students morally and ethically opposed to animal experimentation. Students should be encouraged to take classes for their interest in the subject, instead of consciously avoiding ones involving animal dissection. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Some students also feel dissuaded from requesting that a non-animal alternative experiment be available to them with the concern that they will be penalized and that the effort is futile anyway.
To remedy the situation, the primary focus of the Animal Rights group is in trying to implement a formal written policy that will be available to students throughout the campus. It would explicitly state that students have a non-animal alternative experiment in classes involving animal use or experimentation. Members would like to see this stated in the Student Catalogue as well as the Course Guide to ensure that the entire student population has this information available to them. In order to make this goal into a reality, members have petitioned the student body, and in doing so, received much feedback from their peers. They tabled in both the campus center and the dining halls over the course of several days. A large amount of students agreed with the implementation of such a policy, simply because it is truly an issue of students' rights. About 400 students signed the petition, demonstrating overwhelming support of the group's objectives.
Members of the group have spoken with members of the Biology and Psychology departments as well as Katherine Lewis, a Bryn Mawr alumna who works for the American Anti-Vivisection Society. Although many classes using dissection as part of the laboratory experience allow the student opposed the alternative to watch, the group would like that different alternative methods be made available, ideally CD-roms or other computer technology. Katherine Lewis has been immensely helpful in helping the group research the simulations existing and recommending computer programs that correlate well with the classroom curricula. These materials will be presented to members of the faculty at a later date.
As Bryn Mawr portrays itself as an institution responsive to its students, granting more choice in regard to ethics and morale in the classroom will bring it closer to its ideal. The call for choice is a call for respect.
For more information, please contact Michelle Hersh
(mhersh@brynmawr.edu) or Lauren Eichelberger (leichelb@brynmawr.edu).