State-funded university in California hosts conference featuring animal rights terrorists (2/14/2003)

California State University at Fresno is under public scrutiny for hosting a conference this week that featured notorious ringleaders from violent animal rights and ecological terror organizations.

Fresno State has drawn the ire of sportsmen, farmers, auto dealers, government officials and others for hosting the "Revolutionary Environmentalism" conference on February 13 and 14. The event showcased animal and environmental rights activists who not only promote arson and violence in the name of their cause, but also have been convicted of such crimes.

The following activists are among those who were invited to participate in the event:

• Rodney Coronado, a convicted multiple arsonist who spent 57 months in prison for burning a Michigan State University laboratory.
• Craig Rosebraugh, a former Earth Liberation Front spokesperson who made the statement, "If we are vandals, so were those who destroyed forever the gas chambers of Buchenwald and Auschwitz." (Hoosier Times, June 30, 2000).
• Gary Yourofsky, a PETA employee who wears an Animal Liberation Front tattoo on his arm, has been arrested multiple times for animal rights crimes and told fellow activists: "Do not be afraid to condone arsons."

"They should be all behind bars, not feted at taxpayers' expense," said State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta). He and Roy Asburn (R-Bakersfield) have written a letter to the Senate's education budget committee chairman requesting that Fresno State's funding be cut in the amount that it spends on the conference.

"If Fresno State has so much money as to throw it away on this kind of garbage, then they can obviously stand a cut to their funding," said Hollingsworth.
Not only did Fresno State provide a venue for the conference, it spent nearly $3,400 for the two-day event. The school covered the cost of the speakers' travel expenses.

"Unfortunately, we are seeing an apparent rise in support of the animal rights philosophy in academic circles," said U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Vice President for Government Affairs Rob Sexton. "It is especially outrageous for a state university to sponsor a forum featuring convicted felons."

In a similar case in Michigan, the Michigan State University is promoting the animal rights political movement. It is maintaining a website that provides legal services that animal rights groups can use in court to challenge legitimate animal uses including hunting, farming, animal research, zoos and circuses.

Take Action! Sportsmen and others who are outraged that a state-funded university would host and fund an event promoting violence in the name of political movements should contact Fresno State University President John D. Welty at (559) 278-2324. You can send letters to Office of the President, California State University at Fresno, 5241 N. Maple Ave., TA 48, Fresno, CA 93740-8027.

CopyrightÓ  U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance- www.ussportsmen.org

Home > News and alerts > You are here: State-funded university in California hosts conference featuring animal rights terrorists