The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is up in arms over an animal law Web site created by an MSU-Detroit College of Law professor.

Beth Ruth, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the DCL site is "anti-hunter."

"I think it is OK to have your own ideas on things, but I don't think a public university should be supporting this sort of material," Ruth said.

The site, created by Professor David Favre, has been available for public viewing since October. It provides links to animal law articles and journals.

Favre said he hopes the site will "eventually contain a full set of legal material relating to animals."

"There was some info on the legal issues of animals but nothing that was put together in a cohesive understandable way," he said. "I put together a Web site that any person in the world can come to to check out statutes, cases and explanations."

The sportsmen's alliance, based in Columbus, Ohio, lobbies on behalf of hunters, fishermen, trappers and wildlife scientists.

But Favre said he disagrees with the group's stance.

"I think it's silly," he said. "Their point of anti-hunting isn't even on the site."

Favre said the site's resources are devoted entirely to cases and a collection of related statutes.

DCL Dean Terence Blackburn said the alliance does not understand the true nature of the site.

"The purpose of the university is to inform the students and the general public on a great variety of topics from multiple points of views," he said. "This site, in fact, does that."

Blackburn added there was no state money or tax dollars used in the creation of the site. DCL is a private school affiliated with MSU.

"But that is beside the point," Blackburn said. "This is about academic freedom.

"To suggest that any particular site should be dismantled simply because someone disagrees with the content on one site is a very dangerous position to take.

"It is completely contrary to the fundamental beliefs of a university and a law school."

Favre is exercising his academic freedom, Blackburn said.

"Not one of the individual Web sites here at the college should be construed as the opinion of the law school or the rest of the university," he said.

Favre said animal law is increasingly important, too.

"There's millions of people that own animals; they deal with animals," he said. "We have quite a few laws."

And Favre is taking this criticism lightly.

"Freedom of speech makes it pretty clear you don't take down something just because someone objects to it," he said.