The fight for animal rights is one that has long plagued college campuses abound with animal testing and meat-filled cafeterias.
The fight continued Friday when roughly 75 people congregated in the gallery of the Hatcher Graduate Library to watch members of the Michigan Ethics Bowl Team face off against People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Vice President Bruce Friedrich in a debate regarding the question, “Is eating meat ethical?” The event was hosted by peta2, the youth division of the larger organization, as part of a push to facilitate discussion of animal rights on college campuses.
Friedrich opened the debate by arguing the immorality of consuming meat. He also provided a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of a cat, pig, chicken and dog. Friedrich asked if anyone in the audience would kill and eat the cat. A few people raised their hands.
“Well, you can’t,” Friedrich said. “She’s my cat.”
Friedrich encouraged people who are passionate about environmental and animal rights to practice a vegan lifestyle in order to support the stance that eating meat is unethical.
“If you can choose between mercy and misery, you should choose mercy,” Friedrich said.
The six-person Ethics Bowl Team rebutted with an argument highlighting the meat industry’s attempt to enforce stricter regulations for better treatment of animals. While the team agreed that the current meat industry continues to employ unethical practices, members argued that methods like free-range animal farming and default livestock systems could increase the animals’ quality of life while decreasing carbon emissions.
In response, Friedrich said that 99 percent of meat — including what University students eat in the dining halls — is obtained from mass farming, a practice known for its animal abuse. He added that free-range animals endure abuse, as he illustrated by showing graphic clips from the PETA documentary, “Meet Your Meat.”
LSA senior Kevin Lane, an Ethics Bowl team member, argued that animals don’t have the same investment in their lives as humans do.
“An animal’s future life is not valuable in the same way that a human’s future life is valuable,” Lane said.
LSA sophomore Hasenin Al-Khersan, an Ethics Bowl Team member, said people should cut back on how much meat they consume but emphasized that eating meat is not immoral and actually has various health benefits.
Following the debate, LSA senior Marissa Kresch, who attended the event, said she was disappointed with the quality of the Ethics Bowl Team’s argument. She said some of their points were inaccurate — particularly their points regarding the environmental hazard posed by large herds of livestock.
When LSA junior and Ethics Bowl Team member Elton Li asked during the debate what could be done about the greenhouse gases emitted by livestock, Kresch shouted, “Stop raising animals for food.”
LSA freshman Rene Hanna said he thought the debate was stimulating, and as a result he didn’t feel the need to proclaim a victor because “the winner is the listener.”
Friedrich recently spoke in similar debates on many campuses around the country including Yale University and Harvard College. In an interview after the debate, he said university students are the “most primed” for thinking about ethics, including those involved with animal rights.
“More and more college students are choosing to align their ethics with their action,” Friedrich said.