The Nonhuman Rights Project is proud to announce that Dr. Steven Tauber is the Volunteer of the Month for February 2013.
Dr. Tauber is a professor of Political Science at the University of South Florida, where he serves as the Chair of the Department of Government & International Affairs.
Dr. Tauber became involved with the NhRP in April of 2009 when he began advising the Sociology Working Group. The function of this group is to identify the political and personal factors that create preconceptions, oftentimes unconsciously, that affect how a judge may decide a case and apply it to judges who may preside over one of the NhRP’s lawsuits.
“I study how progressive social movements use various tactics to bring about social change, especially through the judicial system,” he said. “As I developed a personal interest in the animal advocacy movement, I soon applied my intellectual focus to animal advocacy issues.”
Dr. Tauber says he’s surprised at the fact that very few political scientists have examined animal advocacy, particularly its use of the judicial branch. “Building a successful legal campaign takes years, if not decades.”
“There is a copious amount of research that examines social factors influencing how judges decide cases, including ideology, race, gender, background, etc.,” he said. “Once the NhRP has narrowed down a shortlist of states, based on legal factors, our job will be to apply the extant social science research to high court judges in those states in order to help select the final states where the cases will be filed.”
When asked what advice he has for volunteers of the NhRP, Dr. Tauber replied that patience is critical to success.
“Building a successful legal campaign takes years, if not decades,” he said, “and the process is wrought with setbacks. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund took over 15 laborious years to build its campaign that resulted in the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which overturned segregation. In fact, even that legal victory itself was not sufficient to end segregation; it took vigilant action to ensure that the Court’s ruling was followed. So, volunteers should be prepared to be in this for the long haul.”
Dr. Tauber lives with his wife, Meghan, and his “adorable” pit bull mix, Carmella, whom they rescued as a puppy three years ago. He enjoys playing and watching sports, especially basketball, playing guitar and seeing live music, traveling, and vegan cooking.
Thank you, Dr. Tauber, for all of your hard work and dedication.