[NHCOLL-L:1895] Re: Threatened Collections

[David Richman]

Dear All:

This problem has made it all the more difficult for those of us who
would like to unite our institution's various scattered natural history
collections.

Is it worth it to do so when a united collection would just become a
target for cost-cutting bureaucrats!  Is it not better to remain small
collections within a single department and be subject to the whims of
our department heads and at least have a modest chance of survival?

Keep in mind that natural history collections are often looked on as
pork by administrators, who see their own pet projects in need in times
of crisis. There may also be less support among the public as the museum
community seems to support unpopular (at least in many circles) ideas,
such as evolution, climate change and biodiversity. While one cannot
attack these ideas directly (there is always a highly vocal response from
researchers and civil libertarians) there is no reason why one can't cut
off monetary support, or at least allow such cuts to occur on other
grounds.

These are my opinions alone and not necessarily those of my institution.

David B. Richman
Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003
(505)646-2900


 On Wed, 16 Apr 2003, Doug Yanega wrote:

> Given Gerald Noonan's message, this latest from Roberta Faul-Zeitler, 
> and other signs of the coming Apocalypse, one rather immediate and 
> urgent question comes to mind:
> 
> If these threats are here and now, then it's almost certainly too 
> late for us to be discussing what long-term plans we might make for 
> reshaping public and political perception of the role of museums and 
> taxonomists. Getting more public support five to ten years from now 
> isn't going to help if half the museums in the country are dismantled 
> in the next two years. It's like we're all tied to the railroad 
> tracks in a big line while a train is heading for us (the first in 
> line have already been hit, in fact), and if our best solution is 
> calling the head of the railway and asking him to re-route the train 
> before it runs *all* of us over, then I think we're in big trouble; 
> there's too much inertia and bureaucracy in the way. I can think of a 
> few alternatives, but they're very risky, require way more 
> cooperation than our community is probably capable of, and involve 
> way more public exposure than we're likely to be comfortable with, so 
> I don't think they're realistic. Doesn't anyone one else have any 
> ideas as to what we might do *now* to improve our odds - essentially, 
> a way to cut whatever it is that ties us to the tracks?
> 
> Peace,
> -- 
> 
> Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
> Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
> phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
> 		http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
>    "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>          is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
> 
>