[Taxacom] article on taxonomy

[Mary Barkworth]

a) Overhead is not for general expenses but for research related expenses.  Purchasing those journals for instance that give authors more prestige but cost and arm and a leg. Also for running the safety office that deals with chemicals, hazardous and otherwise, and for doing all the immense amount of paperwork generated by every use of the word "accountable".  

b) Have you seen what faculty in the humanities are paid at your institution? And their teaching load? I know that ours are paid way less than their colleagues in the sciences - even systematists. Having said which, doing things molecular is liked more - and our students feel that it is real science. 

c) As for another entity, who the blazes do you think is going to fund it? Have you heard that the country is over its head in debt - for a multitude of reasons. There is the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) program in USGS but it was not funded to do systematics. There are systematists within USDA, but hiring systematists is governed by the needs of US agriculture. Any other approach would be irresponsible. 

d) We need to gather in one place the stories about how systematics has benefited humans, not just in the past but now. I have said that I shall do this for herbaria. Some of the stories have not made it into print. 

Mary