Two Fresno State academics made waves at the prestigious Oxford School for Animal Ethics this summer. In August, Dr. Veena Howard and her student Morgan Poulter stood before top scholars, thinkers and doers from around the world. They opened the Oxford School for Animal Ethics summer school with the conference’s first presentation, “Gandhi’s complex views on nonviolence toward animals and the not-so-nonviolent responses of his fellow Jains and Hindus.”
“We were the first ones. So, you know, that was a little nerve-wracking because you want to make sure things go right and smoothly,” said Howard, endowed chair of Jain and Hindu Dharma and chair of the Department of Philosophy.
Besides being the first presenter, Poulter was also the only undergraduate to present at one of the top universities in the world.
“It was amazing. I feel very lucky to have gotten this opportunity, and I appreciate how kind and supportive everyone at the conference was,” said Poulter. “Just very little anxiety, surprisingly, for my first-ever presentation at a conference this big. Everyone was just very generous, and it felt so comfortable.”
Their presentation explored Mahatma Gandhi’s stance on non-violence towards animals and looked at three cases where his views conflicted with the strict interpretations of Jainism and Hinduism. With compassion as his guiding principle, Gandhi’s differing views were illustrated in three examples: euthanizing a calf whose suffering is permanent and cannot be alleviated, killing rabid dogs who pose a danger to people and cow slaughter prohibition for non-Hindus and non-Jains.
Poulter, who is double majoring in philosophy and psychology, had a big year and was able to travel out of California for the first time with a trip to the APA Conference in Portland, Oregon in March, then to the East and West Philospher’s Conference at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in May, then traveled internationally for the first time for her trip to Merton College at Oxford University.
The theme for the 2024 summer school was “Animal Thinkers” and focused on a wide range of pioneers who work in animal protection. The organizers aimed to showcase that animal protection is not simply a Western affair but a global concern with historical and contemporary advocates from around the world. Scholars from 19 countries, including India, China, Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Canada and the United States, presented at the event.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 