Education
Bones of Contention
Beloved Dino Museum to Close its Doors, Shutting Down the Public
Revolution rages in Tehran and the world is transfixed by millions of Iranians demanding free speech. Laramie, Wyoming is light years away from the Islamic world, but amid charges of repression of free speech and totalitarian decisions, a revolt is gaining momentum against the University of Wyoming (UW) trustees -- and its emblematic martyr is Big Al, the Allosaurus.
Facing an $18.3 million budget shortfall, UW decided to close the school’s Geological Museum in response to the state of Wyoming’s mandated 10 percent budget cuts. The museum will close to the public July 1; its director and assistant are among the people who will lose their jobs as a result.
Big Al -- whose incredibly-preserved bones greet museum visitors -- will become a recluse. Some researchers may be able to see him, but not the public. The same goes for other museum prizes, including one of the only mounted skeletons of an Apatosaurus (or Brontosaurus, as it was formerly called).
Fighting Words
Drafted: The New Missoula Academic Freedom PolicyHere is a working draft of the new academic freedom policy for Missoula County public schools, otherwise known as policy 2330. (To read about how these types of codes are being used in surprising anti-evolution battles across the country, click here.) The policy will be posted to the Missoula County Public Schools website after final approval, which is expected in the coming weeks.
More Education
Policy Bonk
War of the Words: Will New Missoula School Policy Make Stuff Worse?
In an effort to prevent another fracas like the one that erupted over the video The Story of Stuff, the Missoula County Public Schools board of trustees last week approved a draft of a new academic freedom policy -- one that sets clear rules for teachers about how to deal with controversial issues.
Sounds innocent enough. And that’s what’s dangerous, observers say. Because there’s more to this stuff than meets the eye. According to education and civil liberties groups nationwide, an increasingly organized army of parents and political leaders are using seemingly innocuous academic freedom guidelines to fight the teaching of evolution, climate change, and other hot-button issues.
6degrees Astroblog
What Should be Taught in Science Classes
For nearly a century a battle has raged in our country over the nature of science and how it should be taught to public school students. When Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859 based on his observations of various animal species during his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle, it immediately crystallized a growing disagreement between the proponents of a divinely inspired origin to life on Earth and those who looked for a natural explanation for the multitude of species.
state politics: idaho
Nonini Asks for $45 Million for Idaho EducationRepresentative Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, chair of the House Education Committee, asked the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee to fund $45 million in enhancements for the education budget.
Nonini also said he would be presenting to the education committee later today a bill for an “Idaho Education Network,” modeled after the extensive – and expensive – Utah Education Network that enables many Utah high school students to accumulate credits in Utah colleges.
Monday Politics
Benson Battle Bruises CU Image
The candidacy of Republican fundraiser Bruce Benson to become the president of the University of Colorado received another blow over the weekend when CU regent Cindy Carlisle announced she would no longer support him. A candidate for state Senate from Boulder, Carlisle had previously been the sole Democrat on the board of regents to come out in favor of Benson.
Late last week the CU faculty assembly postponed a vote on whether to support the proposed appointment of Benson, who has been an oil and gas CEO and is the former chairman of the Colorado Republican party. He is the sole finalist for the job of CU president.
Introducing...
A New Magazine: The New West
The best way to check out The New West magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.
In the Spring Issue and online here:
- Montana’s Cash Cowboy
- Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
- Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
- Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
- Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
- Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
- Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
- Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
- Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
- Revenge of the Resource Economy
- Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
- Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
- Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom
Bison families are no different from mine and yours
Bob Jackson to Discuss the Family Network of a Bison HerdBob Jackson is a member of the bison family — that is if more viewed a bison herd as a family unit.
Many NewWest.Net readers may be familiar with Bob Jackson from the five part series Todd Wilkinson wrote late last year. (Read the series here.) From this series, a local Livingston organization, Bison Vision, found Jackson’s views and perspectives — as a former Yellowstone Park ranger turned bison rancher — to be viable source for developing alternatives and sustainable practices in bison ranching.
Bob Jackson is the only rancher in the world who raises bison and sells them as a family unit. “Yellowstone is why I started raising bison the way I do,” he said. “I have more feelings for what is happening here.”
He will be hosting a presentation tonight in Livingston on the structure of the bison herds in Yellowstone National Park, how they live as an extended family network and social order (similar to the social structure of indigenous people and elephants) and how ranchers or families can raise bison practicing this idea.
Will Tomorrow Ever Come?
MSU Tomorrow Plan DelayedWe’ll all have to wait just a little bit longer for the unveiling of the MSU Tomorrow Plan. While the Plan, the guiding vision for the physical development of the campus for the next 25 to 75 years, was originally scheduled to be published by the end of this month, it’s running a bit behind schedule in the drafting process.
“Production is a little behind,” said Victoria Drummond, MSU Facilities Services-Planning Design and Construction associate planner. “It will most likely be closer to March.”
Sounds like most major projects, eh? Still, when considering this Plan was actually created upon the principle to avoid the rushed, short-term decisions that could potentially have detrimental long-term impacts on campus growth in the future, waiting a couple months to iron out the details and make certain it is both workable and viable is in line with one of the Plan’s main goals: slow down, think it out and make educated, well-planned decisions.
Drummond views the plan as the accumulation of a tremendous amount of campus and community collaboration to create what she views as one of the most unique, creative and inspiring campus master plans in the country.
