"Wildlife As Property Owners: A New Conception Of Animal Rights"

Ants set up home base. Butterflies chase rivals. Prairie dogs build family burrows. Your favorite cat is territorial. In effect, they claim certain property for themselves. That simple observation may lay the groundwork for protecting biodiversity even as climate change puts immense stress on ecosystems.

Karen Bradshaw, who graduated from Chico State in 2006, is now a Professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, and Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation. Her new book argues for "Wildlife As Property Owners: A New Conception Of Animal Rights" ($27.50 in paperback from the University of Chicago Press; also for Amazon Kindle).

At first glance the notion seems absurd. Do animals actually think of themselves as property owners? Bradshaw rightly leaves that question to scientists and philosophers; instead, she asks the more practical question: "Should people consider animals as potential property owners?" Her book makes the case that not only is this not absurd, property law already has resources that can get us to "yes."

In property law, non-human entities, like corporations, can own things. Trustees oversee the property claims of domestic animals who have inherited an estate as well as others who are unable to act on their own. 

Bradshaw's conception of animal property rights does not ascribe human rights to animals (a radical proposition) and broadens the scope of animal welfare laws to include entire biological ecosystems. Under her approach, "humans would retain the right to own pets, eat meat, or kill spiders."

Bradshaw sees many parallels in the animal kingdom to human property rights. "Property rights diminish the need to wake up each morning and fight to the death over where to eat and sleep.... The time and energy saved can be invested in other activities, such as catching prey or creating iPhones."

Communal rights develop among humans especially when resources are scarce, when no one individual can control the environment. It's the same in the animal world: "Lions always maintain territories with two watering holes" and so the pride must cooperate in their defense.

If Bradshaw's purpose is to convince a skeptic, she has succeeded.

"Free Speech On Campus"

How can public colleges and universities encourage the free expression of ideas yet also protect individuals from being harmed? It's no small task, write Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman in "Free Speech On Campus" ($26 in hardcover from Yale University Press and also for Amazon Kindle; a paperback version, just published, contains a new preface). 

Gillman is Chancellor at UC Irvine; Chemerinsky is Dean of UC Berkeley's School of Law. They lay out a vision for public higher education: "Campuses cannot and should not accommodate the language of safe spaces when the focus is protecting members of the campus fromthe expression of ideas, rather than creating a safe environment forthe expression of ideas."

The authors note that "this generation has a strong and persistent urge to protect others against hateful, discriminatory, or intolerant speech, especially in education settings." What they don't understand is the "historic link between free speech and the protection of dissenters and vulnerable groups."

Tracing the history of free speech in the US, the book argues that "social progress has come about not as a result of silencing certain speakers, but by ensuring that previously silenced or marginalized groups are empowered to find their voice and have their say."

But no voice can be heard in chaos, so the second half lists practical ways campus communities can respond to unpopular speech (as opposed to harmful actions), including hate speech. Speech should be regulated in "a professional zone" (like a classroom) "which protects the expression of ideas but imposes an obligation of responsible discourse…." 

But there should also be a "free speech zone" where "members of the campus community may say things … that they would not be allowed to say in the core educational and research environment." 

Tomorrow's leaders, the book concludes, must understand that if society is "to remain free, diverse, and democratic … free speech matters."

Author Erwin Chemerinsky is scheduled to present "Free Speech On Campus," the Constitution Day Lecture, at Chico State University's Laxson Auditorium on Thursday, September 27 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are available through Chico Performances (http://bit.ly/2wX1sdO); $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, free for youth, Chico State staff, faculty, and students.