The Student Committee for Animal Welfare feels it is basically a misunderstood organization and receives no respect.

The committee is a student-run organization that is self-funded by donations and the selling of posters and buttons.

SCAW Treasurer Ed Payne said there are two purposes to the committee. One is to educate the people on campus and the other is to get people together to go to protests. SCAW President Tracy Wood said they wanted to show that animal cruelty does exist and it is prevalent in many animal labs.

The group meets every other Tuesday in the Holmes Student Center and discusses subjects such as the benefits of vegetarianism, the unnecessary use of animals in experimentation and upcoming events such as protests and animal rights conventions.

Both Payne and Wood agree animals do not need to be used in NIU biology and psychology labs. Payne said he “knows for a fact animals are used in the psychology department.” There are many alternative ways to find cures for diseases and answers for experiments, they said. Cell cultures, tissue modeling, and VCR and computer simulations can be used.

Wood said they have a lot of problems with the psychology and biology labs. Those departments hold public lectures, but when someone from the organization is there, they refuse to speak.

When the psychology department was asked what kind of experiments are conducted, Adjunct Professor Dr. Dorothy McAllister said she did not have the time to comment.