[NHCOLL-L:2247] University of Iowa Herbarium: Update

[Diana Horton]

On March 8th, there was a Court Hearing to consider a series of Motions 
placed before the Court. First, the Court considered our Motion for 
Temporary Injunction against the University of Iowa and Iowa State 
University to stop them from taking any actions to remove the collections 
from the University of Iowa Herbarium until our lawsuit can be heard. 
Second, the Court considered the University of Iowa's Motion to Dismiss the 
entire litigation and its Motion to Dissolve the Temporary Restraining 
Order. Following the hearing, on March 15, Plaintiffs submitted a 
Supplemental Brief that addressed issues of statutory history and the 
nature of the rules applicable to deaccessioning collections of the 
University of Iowa Museum of Natural History. The University of Iowa filed 
a Motion to Strike the Brief and prohibit its submission. On March 30th, 
the judge ruled that the Supplemental Brief will be allowed into evidence 
and has given the defendants until April 11th to file a response. We do not 
know when the Judge will makes his final decision, but we do not expect it 
to be filed until after he has had an opportunity to review any documents 
submitted by the University of Iowa on or before April 11.

If you would like a copy of the lawsuit and/or the supplemental brief, I am 
happy to provide these as e-mail attachments.

Diana Horton
Curator, University of Iowa Herbarium
http://atmos.cgrer.uiowa.edu/herbarium