OVERVIEW. The University of Iowa Herbarium (IA): Endangered. The Museum of Natural History: Threatened.

[Ken Kinman]

Curtis,
     Well, even I'll admit that we have far bigger sources of evil than
strict cladists to fear.  It's the pseudo-biologists we must fear most of
all, and strict cladism (to which strict molecularists seem more vulnerable)
has provided the perfect divide and conquer issue to attack us from within.
     But as I have stated before, I think Zoology (even with its built in
advantage---that we are ourselves are animals) is more vulnerable in the
long run than Botany is, although even some Herbaria are obviously beginning
to suffer the fallout as well.  Too many businessmen running our
universities now, not to mention government in general.  Too many of them
see Nature as something to conquer, not preserve.  Not that government is
monolithically anti-nature, but conservation seems to be increasingly an
after-thought with a very low priority.
          -------Ken
******************************************
>From: Curtis Clark <jcclark at CSUPOMONA.EDU>
>Reply-To: Curtis Clark <jcclark at CSUPOMONA.EDU>
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Subject: Re: OVERVIEW. The University of Iowa Herbarium (IA): Endangered.
>            The Museum of Natural History: Threatened.
>Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 22:32:23 -0700
>
>At 21:30 2003-04-14, Ken Kinman wrote:
>>      I personally believe that cladism in its strict form is one of the
>>key
>>causes (or at least a symptom or side-effect) of such trends, one which
>>has
>>not been sufficiently resisted over the past 30 years.
>
>Despite the fact that strict cladists are the source of all evil, these
>forces were already in motion in botany back when cladists weren't even
>plentiful enough to be the lunatic fringe. At least two jobs I interviewed
>for in the late 1970s weren't filled because administrators felt that
>cellular and molecular approaches were science, but systematics and
>non-theoretical ecology weren't.
>
>
>--
>Curtis Clark                                     jcclark at csupomona.edu
>Biological Sciences                              Voice +1 909 869-4062
>California State Polytechnic University, Pomona    Fax +1 909 869 4078
>Pomona CA 91768 USA                 http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/


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