Monday, July 27, 2009

Help Save the University of Wyoming Geological Museum!!! ***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***

Help Save the University of Wyoming Geological Museum!!!

***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***


The Casper Star-Tribune has an online poll today to vote for either a full time, part time or closed Geological Museum. We all need to show the administration at the University of Wyoming what we think of their recent decisions. So head on over to the Casper Star-Tribune website and scroll half-way down the page and vote! Thanks!

So far, the vote is 93% in favor of having the Museum open on some basis, 5% in favor of closing and 3% in favor of turning the Museum into a skate park. In fact, the facetious answer of "turn it into a skate park" is statistically similar to those who want to close it! Keep the pressure on the feckless UW Administrators who want to favor losing athletic teams over academic pursuits and the fanatic Religious Right who want the Museum closed on religious grounds

Add your voice, here!

ALSO: Remember to keep the letters to the Editor and to UW officials pouring in. Email address available below, as well as here.

Don't let the creationists, religious zealots, christards and intelligent design hoaxers win! Express your opinion here: http://www.trib.com/

Wyoming Fossil Fish (source: http://www.treasure-hunting-team.com/Pictures/Fossil-Fish-1.jpg)
Wyoming Fossil Fish (source: http://www.treasure-hunting-team.com/Pictures/Fossil-Fish-1.jpg)

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The Administration of the University of Wyoming have decided to close the Geological Museum due to a funding shortfall. Despite continuing to lavish millions upon millions of tax dollars on a lack-luster-to-losing Division 1-A Athletic Program, the Administration has tried to reconcile this shameful misallocation of funding as loss of Bowl and television revenue, loss of tradition and loss of long-standing inter-collegiate rivalries.

Well wah-fucking-wah.

What about the 122-year tradition of excellence at the UW Geological Museum? What about the thousands upon thousands of primary, secondary and college students who annually come to the museum to have their curiosity nurtured, scholastic experiences enriched and their intellects stimulated? What about the hundreds and hundreds of families who visit the museum each year who otherwise would not come to Laramie and spend money in the local economy?

In fact, revenues from athletics does not come close to compensating the residents of the State of Wyoming for the millions and millions of tax dollars in real cost these programs suck in--just look at the waste of many millions in the new stadium sky boxes as just a single example. The details of this bait-and-switch deviousness can be found in the UW budget numbers (see for example here: http://www.uwyo.edu/president/info.asp?p=3672 and here: http://www.uwyo.edu/president/info.asp?p=11604) and the thinly disguised misinformation-as-rationale here (http://www.uwyo.edu/president/info.asp?p=11789#Revised).

If we can flush millions away on a robust, if dismally-performing, athletic program, can we not find a couple hundred thousand dollars to keep the successful and popular Museum funded?

Provost Myron Allen proposes his plans for the UW Geological Museum here (http://www.uwyo.edu/presidentsupport/outbox/2009/geology_museum_15_jun_09.pdf). Although a brilliant mathematician and otherwise decent guy, Dr. Allen's proposal for closing the museum manages to be simultaneously short-sighted, amateurishly incomplete and maddeningly misleading.

In a personal e-mail, Dr. Allen assured me that Christian intolerance, religious superstitions and irrational creationist beliefs played no part in the closing of the Museum. However, a quick survey shows that such scientific illiteracy and non-reality-based belief systems are rife among many of the the UW Trustees as well as some Members of the Wyoming State Senate and House of Representatives; perhaps this explains the lack of vociferous opposition to this obscene and perverse misallocation of University resources.

The fact that, in this day and age, in this state, so many University Trustees, Senators and Congressmen do not understand the value of a Museum, the fundamentals of science nor even subscribe to any modern notion of science, underlines emphatically and exactly why this University has an absolute ethical responsibility and urgent need to keep this museum open.

Perhaps it is not possible for non-scientists (such as the UW President and Provost) to understand the importance of science museums, but science and technology only grow though fostering early interest in young students--this is done primarily through programs like the UW Geological Museum. Every time Drs. Buchannan or Allen listen to their iPod, check their schedules on their handheld, email their colleagues or microwave popcorn to eat while watching their plasma screen Televisions, perhaps they should stop and consider the enormous debt Americans pay daily to scientists and engineers developing and refining new technology to produce new products. Scientists and engineers who chose, and excel at, their professions precisely because as children they had access to, and were captivated by, programs such as the UW Geological Museum provides.

Or perhaps it is our job to remind Dr. Buchannan and Allen of their debt and responsibility to the future. Below are a list of the most essential people for you to contact and express your outrage at an institution that is willing to pour millions and millions and millions of tax dollars, year after year, into losing athletic programs that produce nothing, while letting a successful, brilliant and beloved academic program, such as the UW Geological Museum, die simply to save a couple measly hundred thousand dollars. It is clear to even the most casual observer that this is not in the best interests of the people of Wyoming, nor in the spirit of academic excellence to which UW claims to aspire, nor even in keeping with the simple recognition that these men are responsible for preserving for the future the best parts of the present at UW.

Drs. Buchannan and Allen, if allowed to carry through with this hideous misallocation of tax money, are failing miserably at all three tasks.

I am reminded of how Winston Churchill is reported to have once characterized a similar caliber decision: "Save us from the maliciously ignorant and the aggressively stupid!"

Write. Today. NOW. EVERYBODY ON THE LIST!

Sincerely and with hope-

Donald B. MacGowan, PhD

For MORE go here and here.

ADDRESSES:
Important UW email Addresses:
President of the University of Wyoming
Tom Buchannan
tombuch@uwyo.edu

Provost of the University of Wyoming
Prof. Myron Allen, Provost
allen@uwyo.edu

Chairman, Department of Geology and Geophysics
Prof. Art Snoke
snoke@uwyo.edu

State Geologist
Dr. Ronald C. Surdam
rsurdam@uwyo.edu

Governor of the State of Wyoming
Governor Dave Freudenthal
governor@state.wy.us

Letters to the Editor:
kerry.drake@trib.com

http://www.wyomingnews.com/our_services/letter_to_the_editor/

dthomsen@laramieboomerang.com

openforum@denverpost.com

University of Wyoming Trustees:
Jim D. Neiman
jimd@neiman.biz

Warren A. Lauer
warrenlauer@lauerlegal.com

Dave Bostrom
mba-db@mbawyoming.com

Dick Davis
dick@davisandcannon.com

Betty Fear
bfear@centurytel.net

Taylor Haynes, M.D.
rangebeef@aol.com

David F. Palmerlee
dpalmerlee@vcn.com

Bradford S. Mead
bradmead@wyoming.com

Ann Rochelle
arochelle@casperlaw.net

James Trosper
jltrosper@wyoming.com

Ex Officio Trustees:
Jim McBride
supt@educ.state.wy.us

Kelsey Day
asuwpres@uwyo.edu

Elected Officials:
Members of the Wyoming House of Representatives
Representative Rodney "Pete" Anderson
randerso@wyoming.com

Representative George Bagby
g.bagby@bresnan.net

Representative Joseph M. Barbuto
jbarbuto@wyoming.com

Representative Rosie Berger
rberger@wyoming.com

Representative Stan Blake
sblake@wyoming.com

Representative Dave Bonner, Jr.
dbonner@wyoming.com

Representative Bob Brechtel
bbrechtel@wyoming.com

Representative Kermit C. Brown
kermitbrown@wyoming.com

Representative Edward A. Buchanan
ebuchanan@wyoming.com

Representative James W. Byrd
jbyrd@wyoming.com

Representative Richard L. Cannady
rcannady@wyoming.com

Representative Seth Carson
scarson@wyoming.com

Representative Pat Childers
childers@wyoming.com

Representative Roy Cohee
roy@cytransportation.com

Representative Cathy Connolly
cconnolly@wyoming.com

Representative Bernadine Craft
bcraft@wyoming.com

Representative Kathy Davison
kdavison@wyoming.com

Representative Ross Diercks
diercks@wyoming.com

Representative Amy L. Edmonds
aedmonds@wyoming.com

Representative Ken A. Esquibel
kesquibel@wyoming.com

Representative Mike Gilmore
michaelgilmore@wyoming.com

Representative Keith Gingery
kgingery@wyoming.com

Representative W. Patrick Goggles
pgoggles@wyoming.com

Representative Mary Hales
mary.hales@realestateincasper.com

Representative Timothy P. Hallinan, M.D.
tphallinan@bresnan.net

Representative Debbie Hammons
dhammons@wyoming.com

Representative Steve Harshman
sharshman@wyoming.com

Representative Elaine D. Harvey
harvey00@tctwest.net

Representative Peter S. Illoway
pete_chloeilloway3@msn.com

Representative Allen M. Jaggi
ajaggi@wyoming.com

Representative Peter M. Jorgensen
pjorgensen@jorgensenassociates.com

Representative Jack Landon, Jr.
jlandon@wyoming.com

Representative Thomas A. Lockhart
tlockh1617@aol.com

Representative Thomas E. Lubnau, II
tlubnau@vcn.com

Representative Michael K. Madden
madden@wyoming.com

Representative Robert M. McKim
rmckim@wyoming.com

Representative Del McOmie
dwmcomie@bresnan.net

Representative Erin E. Mercer
emercer@wyoming.com

Representative Saundra Meyer
slmey@wyoming.com

Representative David R. Miller
repmiller@wyoming.com

Representative Lori Millin
lorimillin@bresnan.net

Representative Glenn Moniz
gmoniz@bresnan.net

Representative John W. Patton
johnpatton@wyoming.com

Representative Frank Peasley
fpeasley@wyoming.com

Representative Bryan K. Pedersen
bpedersen@wyoming.com

Representative Owen Petersen
opetersen@wyoming.com

Representative Frank Philp
fphilp@wyoming.com

Representative Lorraine K. Quarberg
lquarberg@wyoming.com

Representative Jim Roscoe
jroscoe@wyoming.com

Representative Mark A. Semlek
msemlek@wyoming.com

Representative Lisa A. Shepperson
lshepperson@wyoming.com

Representative Colin M. Simpson
csimpson@skelaw.com

Representative William "Jeb" Steward
jebsteward@union-tel.com

Representative Tim Stubson
tim@stampedeforstubson.com

Representative Matt Teeters
mteeters@wyoming.com

Representative Bill Thompson
billthompson@wyoming.com

Representative Mary Throne
mthrone@wyoming.com

Representative Sue Wallis
sue.wallis@vcn.com

Representative Dan Zwonitzer
dzwonitzer@wyoming.com

Representative David L. Zwonitzer
davezwonitzer@wyoming.com

Members of the Wyoming State Senate
Senator Jim Anderson
jamesda1@msn.com

Senator Eli D. Bebout
senbebout@wyoming.com

Senator Bruce Burns
bburns@dbburns.com

Senator Cale Case, Ph.D
ccase@wyoming.com

Senator Henry H.R. "Hank" Coe
hcoe@wyoming.com

Senator Stan Cooper
scooperwy@gmail.com

Senator Dan Dockstader
ddockstader@wyoming.com
Senator Floyd A. Esquibel
fesquibel@wyoming.com

Senator Gerald E. Geis
ggeis@wyoming.com

Senator John M. Hastert
jhastert2@wyoming.com

Senator John J. Hines
jhines@wyoming.com

Senator Rick Hunnicutt
rhunnicutt@wyoming.com

Senator Kit Jennings
kit@kitsenate.com

Senator Wayne H. Johnson
wajohnsonsd6@yahoo.com

Senator Bill Landen
blanden@bresnan.net

Senator Grant Larson
senlarson@wyoming.com

Senator Marty Martin
mmartin@wyoming.com

Senator Mike Massie
mamassie@msn.com

Senator Curt Meier
cmeier@wyoming.com

Senator Phil Nicholas
nicholas@wyolegal.com

Senator Drew A. Perkins
drew@schwartzbon.com

Senator R. Ray Peterson
rpeterson@wyoming.com

Senator Tony Ross
tross@wyoming.com

Senator John C. Schiffer
jschiffe@wyoming.com

Senator Charles K. Scott
charlesscott@wyoming.com

Senator Kathryn Sessions
ksessions@wyoming.com

Senator Charles Townsend
ctown@wyoming.com

Senator Bill Vasey
bvasey@wyoming.com

Senator Michael Von Flatern
mvonflatern@wyoming.com

US Senator John Barrasso
http://barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactSubmit&CFID=1239277&CFTOKEN=16382076

US Senator Mike Enzi
http://enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailSenatorEnzi

US Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis
http://mail01.mail.com/scripts/common/login_home.cgi?a=8f98139853a8036ef957959bc549ccbb9038a83922ff63e1f0f0eb5b4b61dfdabce6feb0bdc38a56668f46386b88ababbac9158156503c7c8e90a60cee2396f14a7bbf2ebfd857c722e5e29ca5151f69d55cb84105916d

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