[NHCOLL-L:1890] Apologies for cross-posting on TAXACOM! DETAILS OF THE DECISION. University of Iowa Herbarium (IA): Endangered. Museum of Natural History: Threatened.

[Diana Horton]

DETAILS OF THE DECISION
In July 2002, just days prior to her departure to the University of 
Michigan, former University of Iowa President Mary Sue Coleman and Dean 
Linda Maxson of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences signed a 
Memorandum of Understanding to transfer the Herbarium to Iowa State 
University.  This agreement was the culmination of a decision by Dean 
Maxson in late 2001 that was made without the involvement of faculty in 
Biological Sciences, the Environmental Sciences Program, numerous other 
campus facilities that rely on the Herbarium as a resource, and me, the 
Director and Curator.  We appealed the decision to Interim President 
Willard ('Sandy') Boyd, who declined to change any decisions made by the 
former administration.  In January 2003, we initiated the on-going media 
campaign to stop the transfer.  Former Vice President for Research, David 
Skorton, was installed as President in March 2003 and we learned that Dean 
Maxson is interviewing for a position elsewhere.  Recently, President 
Skorton has responded to letters of protest that he does not intend to 
overturn the decision.

It seems that administrators engaged in unorthodox activities to promote 
Dean Maxson's decision to transfer the Herbarium.  In January 2002, I was 
told that Dean Maxson contacted three Directors at the National Science 
Foundation and told them that IA has no Curator, although there can be no 
question that she was fully aware of my status.  This would establish the 
Herbarium as an 'orphaned collection' and would greatly enhance the chances 
of Iowa State obtaining NSF funds to install mobile shelving, thereby 
creating the space to absorb a portion of our collection.  Later, in 
mid-August 2002, I learned that Biological Sciences Chair, Jack Lilien, 
had, without my knowledge or consent, given my (unfunded) 1997 NSF proposal 
for mobile shelving for IA to the Director of the Iowa State Herbarium.  In 
addition, Chair Lilien recently authorized Iowa State to take four cabinets 
of Iowa specimens and subsequently reported that the transfer has begun, 
even though Iowa State currently cannot accommodate the remaining 172 
cabinets.

REASONS GIVEN FOR THE DECISION
External Reviewers Recommended the Transfer in 1998
The idea of divesting the collection surfaced in a departmental review of 
Biological Sciences in late 1998 when reviewers were provided with "a list 
of special questions of particular concern to the Dean".  One of these was 
"What space and resources are needed to maintain or upgrade the herbarium 
to support present and anticipated future research and teaching 
needs?"  The reviewers suggested that the vascular plants could be 
transferred to Iowa State "if the University Administration is unwilling to 
support the herbarium".  However, they clearly felt constrained by their 
lack of collections' expertise, noting that "only one member of the 
visiting committee has even tangential knowledge of this field", and they 
recommended that the administration consult some plant systematists.  This 
recommendation was not implemented, and even though the reviewers 
specifically stated that the bryophyte collections "should remain at and be 
supported by" the University of Iowa, the bryophytes are slated to be 
included in the transfer.

The combined collection will be accessed by more researchers
With Ames a five-hour roundtrip from Iowa City, the collection will be 
inaccessible, to all intents and purposes, to people working in eastern 
Iowa.  Recently, it has been suggested that the University of Iowa will be 
able to borrow "even significant portions" of the collection for research 
and teaching purposes.  If we have the facilities to accommodate 
significant portions of the collection, then there is no reason to get rid 
of it in the first place.  This also is tacit acknowledgement that there is 
significant need for the collection here.  Finally, borrowing collections 
will require storage space and personnel to manage the transactions.  If we 
have these, we can keep the collection here.

The combined collection will be more likely to generate federal funding
Dean Maxson has stated that Iowa State will rank among the top ten largest 
collections nationally when it acquires Iowa's specimens.  This is 
incorrect.  Iowa State currently ranks 32nd and Iowa is 44th (recent data 
from P. Holmgren, New York Botanical Garden).  Iowa State presently lacks 
the space to absorb our collection and will be submitting a proposal to NSF 
for mobile shelving.  Even with compactors, their capacity will be limited 
and they will not be able to accommodate about one-third of IA's 
collections.  Thus, a significant portion of our historic collection will 
be dispersed out-of-state.  Given Iowa State's space constraints, absorbing 
two-thirds of our collection would place them 21st nationally.  It is 
difficult to judge whether this would significantly improve their chances 
for external funding.  Furthermore, their space constraints actually may 
jeopardize the combined collections in the long run because they will 
require a significantly larger facility.  Given our record of activity (see 
below), the Iowa Herbarium presently is in a strong position to resubmit my 
earlier NSF proposal for mobile shelving.

The costs of maintaining the Herbarium are prohibitive
It was reported that Herbarium expenses include salary for the half-time 
Assistant Curator position, and annual costs of $10-20,000 per year for 
utilities, maintenance and supplies.  Salary for the staff position is less 
than $25,000 per year, and the Center for Global and Regional Environmental 
Research, which receives funding directly from the Legislature has pledged 
to cover that expense.  In addition, the daughter of a former Curator 
recently made a substantial bequest to the University of Iowa Foundation, 
provided the Herbarium stays at this university.  This bequest could be 
used to develop an endowment for the long-term care and support of the 
collection.  The cost to the university actually amounts to approximately 
$5,000 per year for utilities, and telephone, postage and supplies that 
average less than $700, for a total of $6,000 per year.

A new facility is needed to house the Herbarium
Within the next few years, all Biological Sciences faculty and the 
Herbarium will have to move out of the building in which we currently are 
housed.  No provision has been made to accommodate the Herbarium in the new 
Biological Sciences facilities.  It has been suggested that the cost to 
build comparable space that includes temperature and humidity controls 
would be prohibitive, perhaps $5-600,000.  While the existing room where 
the vascular plants are stored has a special air-handling system that 
maintains the temperature at 60oF (but no humidity control), a special 
air-handling system is not necessary as long as the room is 
air-conditioned.  The existing air-handling equipment was installed because 
there was no air-conditioning and cooling the room to 60o was an effective 
way to control insects.

In any event, raising the spectre of building a new facility for the 
Herbarium is a red herring.  It is difficult to believe that no existing 
space can be found.  Currently, the Herbarium occupies just over 2,000 
square feet; however, with mobile shelving, this could be reduced by half, 
at a cost of $50,000.  With support from the university, a strong proposal 
could be submitted to NSF to cover this cost.  Alternatively, if just those 
specimens collected in Iowa were retained, approximately 600 square feet of 
space would be required with compactors, at a cost of $25,000, and this 
could be accommodated in my research area.

Overall, arguments that this decision was driven by a recommendation by 
reviewers, the desire to increase the utility and value of the combined 
collections, and fiscal and space constraints are unconvincing.  It is more 
likely a consequence of the increasing emphasis on molecular genetic 
approaches in Biological Sciences.  Recently, a search committee discussed 
what courses a faculty candidate might teach and was told that there cannot 
be any 'ologys'.  Presumably, that stricture is not intended to encompass 
'biology'.


Diana Horton
Director and Curator, University of Iowa Herbarium
Associate Professor, Biological Sciences
312 CB
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA  52242-1297

Ph.:    319-335-1320
E-mail: diana-horton at uiowa.edu
Herbarium web site:             http://atmos.cgrer.uiowa.edu/herbarium
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