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Hi again,
I have been asked by some people off-line to forward my previous postings regarding the Berlin issue. If you have already written the letters, I apologize for cluttering your mailbox. If you haven't written them yet, and if you have lost/deleted some vital info., below is a composite of the three "key" postings I made: 1) original message from Prof. Schultze, 2) additional info., and 3) a sample letter and its forwarding addresses. Also, please don't forget to fax a copy to Prof. Schultze for the Institute's record. The fax number of the Palaeontological Institute of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, is: ++49-30-2093-8868 (Attn: Prof. Hans-Peter Schultze). It is encouraging to know that people are writing the letters!--but apparently, WE NEED MORE!! If you haven't, please note that the letters must be faxed/e-mailed to the three German authorities before May 31, 2002.
Kenshu
________________________________
>>> "Schultze, H.P." <H-P.Schultze@MUSEUM.HU-Berlin.de> 05/14/02 07:27AM >>>
Decline of Paleontology at the Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin
A few days ago, the Expert Commission built up to determine the
future of the Museum fuer Naturkunde in Berlin deemed that:
"Regarding the professorship of paleontology, the problem
arises that this subject as such has no scientific autonomy but derives from
the objects it studies, namely fossils, and from the way it works, namely by
expeditions and preparation techniques. Apart from that, there is no
specific need to separate paleontology and the other areas of biology, as it
horizontally covers the fossilized forms of zoology and botany, while
providing a time dimension to evolution. It would, therefore, be better to
base the subject of the professorship on the general research profile of the
Museum, namely the study of systematics and evolution based on collections, and appoint a professor of Systematics and Biogeography (including molecular aspects). This would also bring in a hitherto-lacking theoretical approach to the area."
Consequently, and as recommended by the Expert Commission to the President of this University, the Institute of Paleontology at the Museum
fuer Naturkunde may disappear.
I was awarded the position of Professor of Paleozoology and Director of the Institute for Paleontology, at the Museum fuer Naturkunde of the Humbolt Universitaet in Berlin, in the summer of 1994. My desired objective (and that of the University administration at that time) was to develop an internationally acclaimed program at the Institute, after 45 years of post-Second World War social and economical constrictions.
Although the economical support once promised by the University
administration upon acceptance of my position has gone on unfulfilled, I
have employed a staff that is comprised of 15 professional scientists
(professors and curators) and approximately 45 individuals (technical
personnel, Emeritus scientists, research assistants, and graduate students).
All positions are nationally and internationally advertised, allowing the
University to acquire highly qualified and internationally recognized German
and foreign professionals.
In the last eight years, the Institute of Paleontology has expanded
and evolved: To name a few, we branched our research to include
collaborative national and international efforts, created professional
academic training programs for researchers abroad (e.g., Argentina, China,
Mongolia, Spain, Switzerland), and organized national and international
meetings, conferences, and special symposia in Berlin and abroad (e.g.,
Mesozoic Fishes; IPC Sydney: Pelagic ecosystems through time) to further the study of paleontology.
Included here are the major contributions that the Institute fuer
Paleontology has contributed to the Museum fuer Naturkunde of the Humboldt Universitaet, Berlin:
Research
Original research in the fields of systematics in paleobotany, invertebrate
and vertebrate paleontology is an important role of the Institute. In
addition, the Institute covers the applied side of paleontology (which is
not covered by the Institute of Systematic Zoology) such as biostratigraphy,
paleoclimatology, taphonomy, and biofacies analysis. In the last few years,
360 papers and 224 abstracts were published in international scientific
journals, alongside six published books.
National and international postdoctoral research fellows supported by
national (e.g., DAAD, DFG: German Science Foundation) and international
(e.g., A. von Humboldt Foundation, Argentinian Scientific and Technological
Research Commission, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fulbright, Max Planck Foundation, Spanish Ministry of Education) institutions contribute to the research activities of the Institute.
We created a scientific journal, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche Reihe, was initiated and four volumes have already been published and distributed.
The participation of 20 countries in the active and productive group,
Mesozoic Fishes, (developed by one member of our staff, G. Arratia) has
produced three international meetings and two books (with a third one in
preparation).
Collaborative research projects in Vertebrate paleontology include national
and international contributions with Argentina, Australia, the Baltic
States, Baltic States, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, England, France, India,
Italy, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Spain, Tanzania, and the USA.
Collaborative research projects in Invertebrate paleontology include
national and international contributions with Argentina, Australia, Chile,
Hungary, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Russia and Tanzania.
Collaborative research projects in Paleobotany include international
contributions with Bulgaria, Greece, and Sweden.
Members of our staff are editors and/or belong to the editorial board of
books and international journals.
Collections and Curation
It is estimated that our Institut holds roughly four million fossils, several thousands of which are typed and illustrated specimens. These are
permanent collections and are currently in the process of being
electronically catalogued.
Education
Staff members of the Institute are involved in the Graduate College Program
Evolutive Transformationen und Faunenschnitte which has been positively
evaluated by the German Science Foundation (DFG) in 2001 with a
recommendation to emphasize the importance of Paleontology.
The professors and curators of this program instruct students of various
fields, including the Department of Biology at the Humboldt University, the
Department of Geology at the Potsdam University, the Department of
Paleontology at the Freie University Berlin, and in the technical schools of
Berlin.
Honors and Awards
Gloria Arratia, one of our staff members, was awarded the Humboldt Prize for
her contribution to the field of Paleontology, as well as honored as
Honorary Member of the Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists of the
U.S.A. (the largest society in these fields). She has also been nominated
as a Member of the Academy of Sciences of Chile.
As documented, the Institute of Paleontology is an active and
invaluable entity to the scientific community. Paleontological specimens
(e.g. dinosaurs of Tendaguru, Archaeopteryx, etc.) are the heart of Museum
exhibits that generate interest and appreciation to the general public and
to the advancement of scientific interest. The statements of the Expert
Commission to the President of the Humboldt University, concerning
paleontology, will generate not only overall irreversible repercussions to
the study of paleontology but are globally symbolic of the future changes to
other fields of study deemed to have "no scientific autonomy."
I ask you and the members of your institution to write letters in
support of paleontology and the Institute of Paleontology, so that this
field of study may continue to survive and thrive. The Humboldt University
wants to settle this matter swiftly and hurriedly, so time is of essence.
Please fax and/or email your support ot the following German authorities
listed below.
Thanking each and everyone of you for your collaborations and support.
Sincerely,
Hans-Peter Schultze
___________________________
>>> "Schultze, H.P." <H-P.Schultze@MUSEUM.HU-Berlin.de> 05/17/02 03:03AM >>>
___________________________
Consequences of the suggested changes in the Museum fuer Naturkunde, Berlin:
1. After German law it is impossible to fire people in permanent positions. That means that
the permanent curator positions in paleontology will exist as long as the present person
occupies it. The 5-6 year positions could be changed at the end of the term of the
person, who occupies the position presently. In jepardy are the professor positions in
Paleozoology (head of the department) and Paleobotany and additional not occupied
positions. In that way the separate department of paleontology ceases to exist. I cannot
forsee how soon that will affect the service to the scientific community (study of the
collections; the curator for fossil mammals will retire in 4 1/2 years).
2. The position of professor of paleozoology (head of the department) will be replaced by a professor
of systematist & biogeographer (with molecular aspects). That is a zoologist in addition to the
systematic zoologist already existing in the museum. Of course he will/has to try to get a research
group together out of the existing positions. You have to understand that it means that
paleontology as entity will disappear and the bridge function between mineralogy and
systematic zoology is gone.
3. There will be no teaching in paleontology at the Humboldt University, it will be not
possible to have graduate students (two of the curators have the "habilitation", so that they
could have graduate students as long as they are here) nor to do the "habilitation" so that
one is able to apply for professor positions.
4. My main concern is the despective characterisation of paleontology. That could be used
all over Germany to hitchhike paleontology position for another field like in our case a
systematist and biogeographer (I have not found out for whom the position is premolded -
the systematic zoologist in the museum thinks that he knows).
5. In the Expert Commission, there was no paleontologist (there was no money to bring Crompton
to Berlin, so that he refused to comment on the report), but an art historian of the Humboldt University.
He is interested in the spectacular paleontological exhibit pieces of the Museum to display them in a
new university museum to be established in the discussed reconstruction of the Berlin castle.
In result, there will be no change for the Department of Systematic Zoology, because the
present director will stay on for the next 20+ years and his contract including the whole
department are legally binding. In the meantime a second zoology department will form, if
the department of paleontology is replaced by a department of systematics and
biogeography as suggested. Paleontology will be gone at the Museum of Natural History.
I find the situation very dangerous, because my term ends September 30, 2002, it has been
extended for one year. Thereafter my people are without protection, and in the future the
large collections without adequate care.
I hope that you now understand how dangerous the situation is at present. Three other
departments of paleontology are at the verge to be closed waiting only the retirement of the
last permanently employed person.
H.-P. Schultze
____________________________
Below, you will find a sample letter provided by Dr. Schultze (the letter was actually written and sent by another person). Based on Dr. Schultze's original message (with Dr. Evans' correction on one of the fax numbers), your letter of support should be faxed and/or e-mailed to the following German authorities:
An den
Regierenden Bürgermeister
Klaus Wowereit
Berliner Rathaus
Rathausstr. 15
10173 Berlin
GERMANY
Fax: XX49-30-9026-2013
email: Der-Regierende-Buergermeister@SKZL.Verwalt-Berlin.de
Senator fur Wissenschaft, Forschung, and Kultur
des Landes Berlin
Herrn Dr. Thomas Flierl
Brunnenstr. 188-190
D-10119 Berlin
GERMANY
Telefax: ++49 30 9022 8450 or 8451
Der Präsident
Prof. Dr. J. Mlynek
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Under den Linden 6
D-10099 Berlin
GERMANY
Telefax: XX49-30-2093-2729
email: praesident@hu-berlin.de
SAMPLE LETTER
>>> "Schultze, H.P." <H-P.Schultze@MUSEUM.HU-Berlin.de> 05/17/02 03:03AM >>>
______________________________________________
Address
Address
Address
Address
14 May 2002
Dear *******************,
Future of the Palaeontological Institute, Museum für Naturkunde
I learnt today that the Expert Commission, set up to determine the future of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, has recommended that the professorship of Palaeontology at the Museum be replaced with a professorship of Systematics and Biogeography, and that the Institute of Palaeontology should cease to exist as a distinct entity within the Museum. I am writing to express my deep concern at this proposal. As a palaeontologist and systematic biologist with 17 years' academic experience in the Zoology Departments of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as the Palaeontology Department of the Natural History Museum (formerly British Museum of Natural History), I believe I am qualified to comment on the situation.
The statement by the Expert Commission, that palaeontology "has no scientific autonomy" and is therefore inappropriate for a professorship, is so extraordinary that it cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged. At one level, no branch of science is "autonomous", as all connect with adjacent disciplines to form part of a greater whole. However, it is a grave misunderstanding to claim that palaeontology has no internal coherence beyond the fact that it deals with fossils.
In the first instance, all areas of palaeontology are unified conceptually by the unique challenges and possibilities offered by the study of evolution and ecosystem change through deep time, using a time-extensive but incomplete record of organismal diversity. There is an extensive literature dealing with the highly distinctive methodological framework for this science, including numerous publications in the highest-profile international journals such as Nature and Science. Secondly, from a collections management perspective, palaeontological collections present a set of distinctive challenges in terms of specimen conservation, locality documentation, conservation and ownership of localities, and so on, all of which differ substantially from those attaching to collections of modern organisms. Thirdly, from the point of view of the visiting public, palaeontology most certainly does form a distinctive and coherent whole - and is usually the overwhelmingly most popular part of a museum's displays: children come to see dinosaurs, not "the fossilized forms of zoology"!
For all these reasons, I believe it is essential that the Institute of Palaeontology is retained in its present form within the Museum für Naturkunde, and continues to be headed by a Professor of Palaeontology - as is normal practice at almost all comparable institutions in other countries. The Institute commands international respect as one of the world leaders in palaeontological research and curation: it would be a tragedy, and a significant blow to the Museum's international standing in this area, for it to be dismembered.
Yours sincerely,
****your name*****
_________________________________
Kenshu Shimada, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Environmental Science Program
and Department of Biological Sciences
DePaul University
2325 N. Clifton Avenue
Chicago, IL 60614, USA
AND
Research Associate
Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Fort Hays State University
Hays, KS 67601, USA
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