May 10, 2010 To: All County Extension Agents, All Extension Faculty and Department Heads The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture is aware of a situation that occurred during the 2010 National 4-H Conference held in Washington, DC that possibly exposed youth to negative messages regarding animal welfare and agriculture. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was provided a forum to deliver their anti-animal agriculture message on March 23
rd by means of two break-out sessions titled, "Animal Instincts: Service-Learning and Animal Welfare." Because the HSUS has a reputation for its anti-animal agriculture views and positions, their presence at a 4-H program has elicited passionate and heartfelt responses and concerns by the agriculture community, volunteers, business partners, and supporters of Extension’s 4-H Youth Development program.
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and the 4-H Youth Development program through Cooperative Extension want to express our sincere apology to our constituent base for this lapse in judgment by our federal partners at USDA and NIFA. We are extremely distressed about the negative press surrounding this issue. We have given voice to our displeasure and notified National 4-H Headquarters and its administrative body as to the negative impact this has had on our program. We have been diligent and consistent in moving our message of dissatisfaction forward to our national partners.
Whereas we are unaware of the content and context in which the information was presented at the conference, we are pleased to know that no Arkansas youth reported attending the sessions. It is our intent to continue to monitor the situation and remain informed of the related outcomes associated with this issue. Please be assured that it is the goal of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and the 4-H Youth Development program to continue use animal agriculture and related programming to provide positive youth development opportunities and experiences.
Sincerely,
Anne R. Sortor, Ph.D.
Tony E. Windham, Ph.D.
Assistant Director – FCS Associate Vice President for Agriculture-Extension
Interim Assistant Director - 4H and Youth and Director, Cooperative Extension Service
cc: Milo Shult, Mark Cochran, Lalit Verma, Richard Roeder, District Directors