Vegan student on farming course upset by abattoir visit
A VEGAN student launched an official complaint to her college over a farming module that could have led to her visiting an abattoir.
Fiji Willetts, 18, was encouraged by her tutors to complete a course in animal husbandry as part of her degree in animal management. It requires students to work on a farm and possibly visit a slaughterhouse.
Miss Willetts, from Bristol, claimed that a tutor at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College said skipping the unit would result in an “automatic fail”, which has been denied by the college.
In a letter to the government-sponsored Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), she said learning which animal breeds yield the highest amount of milk, meat and eggs would cause her “extreme anxiety”.
Miss Willetts, a vegan for four years, said attending the Unit 19 Farm Livestock Husbandry would be in breach of the Equality Act 2010 as veganism is a “protected characteristic”.
The college denies her claim that it was mandatory and say she was offered alternative courses.
The college said that on at least “three separate occasions” it reassured Miss Willetts and her parents that the unit had been “ethically planned” and would not be delivered in a way that “disregards” her beliefs or “disadvantages” her.
The student would only have failed the course if she had not completed one of the two alternative courses, the college said.
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College said: “At no time has Fiji Willetts responded to any of our formal correspondence or efforts to reach out.
“Fiji Willetts has refused to engage with the curriculum team regarding the alternative options offered to her or the taught elements of Unit 19.”
Neither of Miss Willett’s complaints to the college or the EFSA were upheld.
The college added: “Information sought from the Equality and Human Rights Commission confirmed that ‘obligations do not apply to anything done in connection with the content of the curriculum’.”