BITE BACK: Vegan student wins right to skip course module with slaughterhouse trip
The course description stated that it was 'great for people who love animals', but later found out it included a module on farm husbandry and possibly visiting an abattoir.
KATE POUNDS: A teenage vegan has forced her college to back down after she took a course in animal management which involved a trip to an abattoir. Fiji Willetts, 18, says she enrolled on the course after reading it was “great for people who love animals” in the college prospectus. But she was soon devastated when she found out it included a module on farm husbandry – including working on a farm and possibly visiting an abattoir.
The vegan of four years claims tutors at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College said skipping the unit would result in an “automatic fail”, although the college has since denied this is the case. The animal lover claims she was told she could alternatively leave the college or enroll on another course… Worried a fail would scupper her chances of going to uni – but unwilling to study raising animals for food – she turned to “vegan rights advocates” for help…
Students were expected to attend working farms and a slaughterhouse visit was also discussed, according to the Vegan Society, which supported Fiji’s claim. Fiji started suffering with anxiety and raised concerns with her tutor, but was told she had to complete the module or fail, the society claims. She submitted a formal complaint to the college, which maintained a substitute module was not available, it is claimed.
A similar complaint was issued to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), who supported the college. But the case was escalated to the awarding body for non-compliance with equality law, and college tutors finally changed their minds…. She’s been told she can do a “more suitable” module instead. SOURCE…
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