Posted April 9, 2014

Wildlife attends writing class

Joseph V. Labolito
The theme of Assistant Professor Dan Featherston's First-Year Writing class is human-animal relations. A fish crow from the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic perches on Featherston's arm.

Things got wild in Assistant Professor Dan Featherston’s First-Year Writing course this week, when two wildlife ambassadors from the Schuylkill Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic made guest appearances. Michele Wellard, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and the clinic’s assistant director, brought an Eastern screech-owl and a fish crow to Featherston’s class.

  • A fish crow visits a 'First-Year Writing' class. Photo by Joseph V. Labolito.
  • An eastern screech owl visits a 'First-Year Writing' class. Photo by Joseph V. Labolito.

The theme of that course is human-animal relations. In it, students discuss, debate, read and write about animal ethics, the moral relevance of nonhuman animal capacities and the social construction of nonhuman animals.

“Having nonhuman animals in the classroom gives us the opportunity to see that the ideas and arguments we’re discussing have very real consequences,” he explained. “They give a face and a presence to how we consider each of them, which in turn makes students feel more accountable as critical readers, writers and thinkers.”