University Adopts Policy on Dissection Alternatives

by Karen Pruitt Fowler

The University of Illinois has become the first major university in the United States to adopt a policy regarding dissection alternatives.

The school’s policy, which was approved last week, calls for:

--alternatives to be provided to students taking required courses
--students taking elective courses to be able to appeal to department heads for alternatives
--course catalogs to indicate which classes potentially involve dissection Among the alternatives approved for use are models, videos, CD-ROMs and books.

The new policy was prompted in part by a two-year campaign undertaken by Students Improving the Lives of Animals (SILA), a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign group.

"This is a huge precedent," said former SILA president Danielle Marino.

"That’s why we put so much effort into something that may seem small." "Now that the University of Illinois dissection choice policy has been adopted, I hope that other...universities will follow (the school?s) lead and give what more and more students are asking for - humane alternatives to dissection," said American Anti-Vivisection Society Program Coordinator Nicole Green.

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.