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Some students who worked in a University of Calgary lab that closed abruptly in March have accused its faculty of mismanagement and animal cruelty, according to Canada's CBC News. The unnamed students reportedly said that on multiple occasions lab rats woke up in the middle of medical procedures crying out in pain due to insufficient anesthesia. One student allegedly reported the negligence to faculty members and the campus’s animal care committee in 2017 but said the inhumane behavior continued for several more months. One additional unnamed student told CBC News that she’d worked at the lab since 2015 and never witnessed any animals wake up during surgery, however, and called her fellow students' allegations “false.”
Vedran Lovic, an assistant professor of psychology who studies addiction and is currently on the leave, ran the lab. He did not respond to a request for comment, and the university declined comment on the circumstances of his absence. Dru Marshall, provost, said in a statement that Calgary is “aware of concerns raised about operational procedures” in a psychology lab, and that those concerns “are being taken very seriously and are being reviewed.” Calgary’s psychology department as a whole will be subject to a professional climate review this fall, following the recent resignation of Chris Sears, department chair. In an email to students and professors explaining his decision, he cited a lack of departmental “unity.”
