I'm posting this for an off-line colleague.

The Herbarium situation reminds me so much of the closing of The University
of Kansas Museum of Anthropology it is haunting. The deceit, the
behind-closed-doors manipulation, the unilateral and dictatorial decision
making with an utter disregard for integrity and value of the collection to
members of the University and the public is disturbingly familiar. Even more
disturbing is that I have felt the same way at the last two years of AAM
meetings as I listen to people from other museums closed or closing on
University campuses all across America. The pattern is so familiar, almost
rote in the way it is repeated again and again that it doesn't seem possible
that it is coincidental. And nearly always in response to the same
motivation: the greed for research dollars at any cost.

Where are they getting these ideas and why so many similarities? I've been
asking myself what kinds of organizations to the university administrators
go to and what do they tell them at those meetings. Do they share
information like this in open sessions or is it after hours in secret
sessions?  ("Pssst...want to know how to save your university thousands of
dollars? Close down your museum and use the money you save on a unit with a
better profit margin.") I hate to sound paranoid but it seems like there has
to be a connection.

It all seems like such an affront to everything a university, especially a
public university, is supposed to stand for--academic freedom, free speech,
free thought, integrity, exchange of information, respect for a diversity of
viewpoints, etc.

I'm glad the Herbarium got the legal system involved since the
administration seems to weld all the power on campus. I hope it helps and if
nothing else the administration will have to publicly attempt to justify
their actions--something KU still hasn't done.  As a side note, KU announced
last week they were replacing the Director of the Art Museum immediately.
Apparently staff and the Advisory Board knew nothing about decision until
the replacement was named.

The idea of using the Freedom of Information Act to access "secret"
documents held by the administration interests me. Wonder if that would work
elsewhere.  But how one would go about enforcing it and what are its
ramifications? Elie Wiessel said it best of course: "There are times when we
are powerless to prevent injustice. But there must never be a time when we
fail to protest it."

In the end it is the injustice and the way these museum closings arehandled.
Units close on campuses all the time. If the process was public and there
were clear justifications of why museums needed to close and how it would
benefit the university it wouldn't be so bad.  The fact that that isn't
happening shows that the closings are political and that administrators
can't justify their actions.I wish I had some profound advice on how to stop
this from happening.  All I know it that we are pretty much powerless as
individuals in this situation.  We must find a way to act as a profession to
fight back to save our museums and collections.


Celia Daniels
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