PRESS: A letter to the Times Standard Editor "Save the North Coast's Natural History Museum!"

Save the Natural History Museum

Letter to the Editor

Posted: 09/28/2009 01:15:17 AM PDT

Thanks for your Toast to the hundreds of volunteers and donors who are working to keep the North Coast's Natural History Museum alive, and thanks, too, for your Roast of the HSU administrators who decided, against all evidence, that it would be better to permanently shut down the museum than turn it over to its own advisory board to keep the collection open to the public.

You were quite right in ending your Roast of the administration by giving HSU an out, saying, “these are difficult times, and difficult decisions have to be made.” No argument there, but this particular case was a no-brainer, and HSU administrators didn't pass the exam.

HSU has little to lose but much to gain by giving the advisory board a year to make the museum sustainable. At little additional cost to the university (which is keeping the museum open by appointment in order to satisfy grants it accepted last year), the newly formed Friends of the North Coast's NHM might at least be allowed to fail on its own. Instead, the university seems happy to accept the blame for eliminating one of its only examples of outreach to the community. As far as public relations goes, HSU gets an F.

Janet and Arthur Zich

Arcata

PRESS: A Roast from the Times Standard

Roasts and Toasts

The Times-Standard

Posted: 09/21/2009 01:30:13 AM PDT

Roast

* To Humboldt State University for putting a halt to prospects for the reopening of the Natural History Museum. While the university's budget predicament is unquestioned, it seems like it too readily gave up on the efforts of many in the community -- people who pledged some $75,000 to the museum and had proposed keeping it open with some paid and volunteer staff. At the same time, these are difficult times, and difficult decisions have to be made.

Times Standards Toasts YOU this week!

Roasts and Toasts

The Times-Standard

Posted: 08/31/2009 01:30:18 AM PDT

Toast

* To all of those who made pledges to help keep the doors of Humboldt State University's Natural History Museum open. Let's hope a plan can be developed to save such an important community resource.


View it here.

More Press at the Times Standard! Press Releases really do work.

Survey outlines possible $27,000 in pledges for HSU museum
The Times-Standard
Posted: 08/19/2009 01:15:25 AM PDT



A survey of those meeting to discuss the future of Humboldt State University's Natural History Museum identified some $27,000 in pledges to keep it open.

Museum board members and volunteers met on Monday to launch fundraising and long-term planning efforts and tested the waters to determine how much money they might be able to come up with. The group found that the attendants were willing to pony up an amazing $27,000.

On Aug. 7, HSU said it had to close the museum because of the state budget crisis. But a group of devotees moved to keep the popular museum open, and met with HSU deans on Aug. 12. College of Natural Resources Dean James Howard and Associate Dean Steven Smith agreed to let the group come up with a plan by Aug. 28 to raise $120,000 and plan for long-term fiscal support of the museum. A second meeting on Aug. 17 put forward a fundraising, marketing and long-term strategies plan.

The group has also launched a blog at http://savearcatanhm.blogspot.com, on twitter at www.twitter.com/savearcatanhm, and a Facebook page. People interested in the fundraising effort can also e-mail savearcatanhm@gmail.com.

Times Standard Toasts the Natural History Museum Community Group

Roast and Toast

The Times-Standard

Posted: 08/17/2009 01:30:11 AM PDT

Toast:

* To the devoted group of community members who have stepped up to help preserve the Humboldt State University's Natural History Museum. The group, which includes College of the Redwoods Professor Karen Reiss, among others, has a daunting task ahead. First, they must come up with a plan by Aug. 28 to raise roughly $120,000 -- the university's costs through the end of the fiscal year to keep the museum open. If they are able to clear that hurdle, they then have several months to concoct a strategy to raise a daunting $300,000 to $400,000 annually to keep the museum afloat. While the task sounds enormously difficult, they have the support of nearly all Humboldt County residents, and we applaud them for mounting the heroic effort.

Find the posting here.