Editor:

Open letter to UW Trustees and President Tom Buchanan:

Apparently the minds of those in administration at the University of Wyoming continue to be as hollow as the now-closed UW Geological Museum. With the recent announcement that the museum will be reopened part-time and be staffed with a security guard, Buchanan - or whoever concocted this not-so-brilliant idea - has shown two things: One, that UW administrators are well aware of the public's disappointment in the museum's closure; and two, that on some level, they are aware that they made a mistake.

But simply turning the lights on and staffing the museum with the equivalent of Paul Blart the mall cop - someone who will have no training in paleontology, nor the knowledge and ability to maintain the collections - is not enough. The recent announcement from Buchanan is either a desperate short-term solution to exonerate himself in the eyes of the public or a solution that he and other administrators believe to be a legitimately good idea. The pessimist in me fears that it might be the latter.

After all, leadership and wisdom seem to be in short supply in Old Main these days. If the powers that be at UW actually think that alumni, faculty, researchers, students, and tourists will be satisfied with a functionally neutered part-time museum, then they are in for a prolonged public relations nightmare. How many alumni have to pull or threaten to pull their donations before this sorry mistake is permanently rectified?

A closed geological museum is a travesty. A crippled museum is an insult to the public. I ask that all supporters of the museum turn up the heat - it's working, keep it up! Let's not stop until this venerable institution is restored to its former glory.

BRENDON ORR, Laramie

Friend of the S.H. Knight Geological Museum