Urgent Petition! Calling all current and former students:

To current and former students of the BNHM, including the UC Botanical Gardens, UC & Jepson Herbaria, Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Museum of Paleontology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology:

The Berkeley Natural History Museums (BNHM) and Field Stations (FS) are currently slated to receive a massive and devastating budget cut in the coming fiscal year. Current students from the BNHM and FS have drafted a petition to the leadership of the university conveying our extreme disappointment in their proposal to endanger the future of ecological, evolutionary, and environmental sciences at Berkeley. Please voice your support by adding your signature to the petition by following this link.

Long-form link: https://www.change.org/p/chancellor-carol-christ-preserve-berkeley-s-museums-and-field-stations

Sara Kahanamoku-Snelling (UCMP graduate student) has kindly set up the petition – all you need to do is sign it!

One thought on “Urgent Petition! Calling all current and former students:

  • April 19, 2018 at 7:50 am
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    The Berkeley Natural History Museums and the UCB Field Stations are such world class resources for students and researchers not just from Berkeley but from around the USA and internationally that it is shocking to learn of these proposed budget cuts. In my research I have depended on MVZ as well as the UC and Jepson Herbaria, and in retirement I continue to use online resources of the UC and Jepson Herbaria, with an occasional visit, and with help from museum staff on topics of algal distributions and introduced species. These museum collections and the expertise of museum staff are, for me, the most significant element of outreach and continuing education that UC Berkeley offers.
    I have also spent time at Hastings and Sagehen Creek, always impressed by the staff, facilities and habitats available for research and education at these terrific Natural Reserve System sites. UC Berkeley has reason to be very proud of these reserves and the significant research that has been accomplished at each of them. The drastic cuts proposed to their programs and to those of these world class museums are shameful. I hope the University reconsiders this move.

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