[NHCOLL-L:2156] RE: threatened university collections

[Gregory Brown]

I'll try to give you an objective update on the situation at the University of Nebraska State
Museum. Objectivity from anyone here is very difficult, of course, but I don't think any purpose
would be served by including my personal feelings about what was done here, or more specifically,
*how* it was done.

The original proposal by the Administration was to completely eliminate the Research Divisions and
the research mission of the Museum (elimination of a "Program" was necessary in order to justify the
termination of tenured faculty.) This proposed elimination included the termination of all curators,
collection managers, preparators, technical artist, secretary and additional positions within the
Public Programs division. In addition, their intent was to physically eliminate the zoology,
anthropology, and botany collections in their entirety. Administration's proposal for management of
the remaining "collections of importance" included hiring three "museum specialists" to oversee the
collections. Although the University's very successful Museum Studies Program was not technically a
part of the State Museum, it was also targeted for complete elimination.

The University received a huge volume of mail from our colleagues around the world as well as from
concerned citizens of Nebraska. I hope that all of your opinions were read, but many of you who
received generic, off-point replies may have reason to doubt that. I have little doubt, though, that
without your support, the full original proposal would have been implemented.

Briefly, this is the current state of affairs:

The Research Divisions, as official entities within the Museum, no longer exist. All affected staff
received their official letters of termination shortly after the Administration's proposal was made
public. A majority of the curators have, through personal negotiations, found employment within
their affinal University departments. Most have arranged to have "collection curatorial duties"
included as part of their responsibilities. While the latter is good, having the care of the
collections vested in individuals within departments rather than in actual postitions is usually a
recipe for disaster. As far as I know, two curators have not been rehired in any capacity within the
University system.

Rather than hiring three "museum specialists" as originally proposed, the Administration
acknowledged, at least in part, the need for discipline-knowledgeable collection managers for
several of the collections. Former collection managers were required to apply for these "new"
positions. Vert Paleo and Zoology collection managers were re-hired. Botany and Anthropology were
not. Parasit and Entomology manager positions were restored but are currently vacant as far as I
know. Half the salary for one full-time Preparator in Vert Paleo continues to be State-funded. Two
additional half-time Preparator positions are funded through soft-money for one year. Technical
artist and secretary postitions were restored and are currently filled. The Museum Studies program
has been eliminated entirely, although there is an attempt to accomodate current students through
graduation.

No collections have been deaccessioned. The long-term status of the Zoology, Botany and Anthro
collections, to my knowledge, is still unsettled. Administration has voiced their intention to
maintain the Vertebrate Paleontology, Entomology, and Parasitology collections.

Because of your support and the dedication of past and current Museum staff, the collections overall
have fared much better than they might have otherwise, and we are still "open for business."  Still,
the Museum's ability to provide long-term, high-quality care of some of our collections and to
maintain a strong research program has been seriously jeopardized, and several essential positions
have been lost.

Thanks again for all your letters, and I hope that better times are ahead for all the great museums
and individuals dedicated to preserving our cultural and scientific heritage.

Gregory Brown


-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Heydon [mailto:slheydon at ucdavis.edu]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 6:15 PM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2154] threatened university collections




Does anybody have an update on what actually happened to the threatened collections at Nebraska,
Arkansas, etc. There was a lot of chatter when the cuts at these institutions were proposed, but I
have not heard whether we or the staff members there were able to do any good and rescue these
programs.


Steven L. Heydon, Ph.D.
R. M. Bohart Museum of Entomology
Department of Entomology
University of California
Davis CA 95616

Phone 530 752–0493
FAX 530 752–9464
e–mail slheydon at ucdavis.edu