September 12, 2007
Environmental studies laboratory faces cutbacks
Clancy Gordon was a founder of the Environmental Studies Graduate Program way back in the 1970’s. These are different times. Today’s EVST department might be almost unrecognizable to many from that era. Over the years the department has dealt with many threats to its existence both locally here at the U and from the steps of the capitol in Helena. But the activists, conservationists, and concerned citizens that fill the ranks of the department have and probably always will be a stubborn lot.
If you know anything about us environmentalists, you know that we are optimists. If we weren’t we would have quit long ago. We believe that change is indeed possible and necessary for our future.
However, one change to our department that is looming will be a change in the wrong direction. As environmental studies and environmental science programs expand at universities across the country, dean Gerald Fetz has decided to convert the space occupied by the Clancy Gordon Environmental Science Laboratory into a research lab for another department. The regentially approved Gordon Lab was started in 1963 by Clancy Gordon and named for him after his death. It has been EVST’s research, teaching and service lab for the 37 years of EVST’s existence. The Gordon Lab is to be relocated to a space too small to support its teaching and service function and will only minimally support its research function. This lab has served as a home for the Watershed Health Clinic, which not only regularly brings in large grants but is involved in assessing water quality in every corner of this great state. Over the past year alone the lab has supported projects such as the Opportunity Citizens Water Monitoring Initiative, EPA’s Survey of the Nation’s Lakes, and an ongoing project characterizing Montana’s streams in collaboration with Montana DEQ. The lab also serves as the main teaching lab for undergraduate EVST students, is critical for graduate students working on thesis projects for their Master of Science degree, and is used by students and faculty from all over campus as well as community groups working on various projects. These functions of the lab would be largely lost.
Frankly, when I look around this community, it is difficult to ignore the influence of the EVST department. EVST alumni work in nonprofits, government, and private industry for social justice, environmental justice, cleaner rivers, safe drinking water, less pollution, sustainable living, and local food supplies. Taking away a resource used and needed by this department is no way to say “thank you” to those local heroes. In fact, it can be seen as a punishment for their efforts at bettering conditions in Missoula and across the state.
We in the EVST department do not ask a great deal from the university. We do not require a brand new building as a monument to our accomplishments. We love historic Jeanette Rankin Hall and the Gordon Lab’s space in the old Natural Science building.
However, we do ask that you let us continue with the laboratory that has been our workspace since the birth of EVST, so that we may continue to make the University of Montana a proud leader in this field, attracting students from across the country and around the world.
It is common in our department to hear the phrase, “Science guides, but philosophy decides.” Dean Fetz, how will you decide?
Eric Feeley
EVST Graduate Student
With support from Environmental Studies Graduate Students:
Mumtaz Ahmad
Matthew Brandon Barr
Amy Edgerton
Paul Kerman
Kathryn Makarowski
Natalie Shapiro
This story has been viewed 86 times.
Comments
There are no comments for this story yet.
