Animal Rights Speaker Sparks Controvery, First Amendment Issues

Gary Yourofsky doesnt apologize for his radical stance on animal rights. In fact, he says enlightened people dont consider him to be that radical. "Consuming cut up pieces of animal corpses is not enlightened," said Yourofsky Monday after a presentation before a journalism class at the University of Southern Indiana. He went on to say he supports the killing and raping of humans who kill animals in the name of meat and fur production, and medical and pharmaceutical research. "My empathy is only for victims, human or nonhuman, I dont have empathy for victimizers," he said. Yourofskys speech came less than a year after an earlier engagement was canceled by the University, which cited a policy barring speakers who advocate breaking state and federal laws. Members of the campus Society of Professional Journalists lobbied to bring him back, saying that in spite of his controversial stance, as a public university, the school should give him the opportunity to speak. Explaining his support for letting speakers of all viewpoints address his classes, journalism professor Chad Tew explained that, in his view, USI "really serves a vital need, brining people in from outside, even if they are controversial." He said his students could "make any decision they wnat, but theyve got to be exposed" to foreign ideas. Not all of the students who listened to Yourofsky were shocked, and some said they had no plans to change their diets to reduce or remove meat. "I actually am a meat cutter at Schnuks," said one. "I really wasnt listening to it." Others were moved by the presentation. "I didnt want to hear it," said a student, "It made me change my opinion, whether itll change the way I eat, well see."