… if you are a student:

1) Opt-Out:

Exercise your right to conscientious objection and opt-out of dissection and invasive procedures using live animals. Ask your instructor to provide you with an alternative means of fulfilling your course or degree requirements. Visit the Animals in Science Policy Institute website for excellent suggestions about specific alternatives for different courses/learning objectives, and how to approach your professor about using them. If you are afraid of opting-out for fear of academic penalty or ostracism, or otherwise need assistance in the process of opting-out, please contact QAD for support.

2) Mobilize:

Start your own group (e.g. “Science Students for Animals”) to provide a safe environment for students to discuss their views about animal use; to encourage compassion for and empathy with animals rather than desensitization and detachment; and to lobby the University to invest in top quality pedagogical alternatives.

… if you are a professor/instructor:

1) Support your students:

Inform yourself, and your students, about the right to opt-out of dissection and invasive procedures using live animals. Demonstrate and incorporate the use of alternatives into your classes.

2) Lobby for alternatives:

Encourage your department and faculty to set aside funds for the purchase of state-of-the-art alternatives. Run workshops to demonstrate these technologies to your colleagues.

3) Reach out:

Contact the Vancouver-based Animals in Science Policy Institute for information about their recent study on non-animal alternatives in undergraduate teaching. Here is the list of all of the courses at UBC using animals, and suggested alternatives.