Colleges / Universities

Does My College Use Animals?

There are several steps that you can take to help you determine the extent of animal use, both in teaching and in research, at a college or university:

1. Institutions that experiment on animals other than mice, rats, and birds (which are specifically excluded from coverage under the Animal Welfare Act) must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

2. All institutions that receive federal grants for research using vertebrate animals must file an assurance with the National Institutes of Health that they will abide by the Public Health Service (PHS) Principles regarding animal care. This list can be found here (click on the state you want at the top). Keep in mind that only schools receiving federal funds for the studies need to file an assurance with the government. Schools may still be experimenting on mice, rats, and birds without being on this list if the studies are funded by grants from private corporations or if the animals are being used in teaching exercises or experiments that are not federally funded.

3. For schools that are not on either list, you should check the schools' Web sites (or Google them if the sites do not have a search feature) to look for evidence of animal research and animal use in teaching. You might have to do some searching, but generally any college that has a biology department and/or a psychology department will use animals in some way. One clue to animal use is the existence of an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), sometimes called by other names. Even schools that do not use animals often partner with institutions that do. For example, Bard College is on neither list, but it has a partnership with Rockefeller University (which is one of the top recipients in the U.S. of funding for animal experiments) so that students can get "hands on" experience that they can't get at Bard.

4. Many schools still teach dissection in biology, anatomy, and other life science courses. Physiology classes often involve live animal exercises with turtles, frogs, rabbits, and rats. Find the course catalog on the school's Web site and look for life science classes, then read each syllabus to check for dissection or live-animal exercises. When in doubt, call the university department directly and ask about what kinds of live and dead animals they use.

Columbia University Cruelty

The Palmer Chiropractic University System

University of North Carolina

Johns Hopkins University

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Experience a Real Research Lab Firsthand

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