Qualified support
The building of the Animal Lab on South Parks road is an issue that has come to symbolise so much more than just another university construction project. While no one in Oxford can have failed to hear the protests of the anti-vivisection lobby, it is the increasing support for the university’s intentions from the public at large that has brought the situation into the spotlight of the national and international media.
The Oxford Student firmly supports the university in its determination to conduct scientific research that is essential to better the lot of humankind at the beginning of an uncertain century. We also applaud the bravery of those involved for standing up to the threats and intimidation of a minority of extremists, and it is only fitting that the actions of Pro-Test and the increased media interest have made their hard work better known.
However, given the huge furore that has accompanied the project from its very beginning, it is also perfectly legitimate to enquire whether all appropriate steps were taken during the planning period to forestall the problems that have subsequently arisen.
As our investigation today shows, it is doubtful whether best practice was taken at all steps in the initial consultancy between the bodies involved, and the repercussions of locating the facility in the centre of the city were not properly considered. Sources within the council, the police and the university have all expressed their opinion that the process was not conducted in the best possible way.
It is of course easy with the benefit of hindsight to criticise the actions of those who have come before us, and it is also evident that the scale of the protest on both sides of the case is on an unforeseen and largely unprecedented scale. However there is a history of mobilised, organised and on occasion violent protest against animal testing both in this country and abroad stretching back decades.
Most relevantly the University of Cambridge eventually abandoned their plans to build a primate research facility following a sustained campaign by animal rights groups. While it is extremely laudable that the university administration is determined to remain unbowed and to see the project through to completion, it is also reasonable to expect that that they took all possible steps to set foot on the field of battle fully armed and prepared.
The controversy surrounding animal testing is here to stay for the immediate future at least, but let us hope that in Oxford both the authorities’ determination to continue and an increasingly prominent pro-vivisection lobby will see the South Parks Road lab though to completion.
If our university is to maintain its coveted position as one of the world’s leading higher education institutions then this kind of institutional bravery is as important as any number of research assessment rankings.
However just as the authorities have a duty to keep disruption to a minimum and to allow the ebb and flow of student life to continue in as normal a manner as possible, so we as the press must not abdicate our responsibility to ensure that the matter is subject to sufficient scrutiny. We offer our support to the University of Oxford, its scientists and its administration but we do not extend this unreservedly. If it is to be business as usual for them, then it must remain so equally for us.
27th Apr 2006