Dave West is working this nowadays. He may have some good ideas on
how to proceed, and has considerable knowledge with the NM/CSF realm.
I'm 1000% behind this, great idea!
-- Owen
On Feb 13, 2009, at 2:57 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
Dear All,
Since my first days in Santa Fe more than five years ago, I have
met many people who hanker to have a university here and have the
skill, the talent, and the experience to contribute to such an
enterprise. Yet, the reality is that we are near to losing our name
sake college, the College of Santa Fe. Thursday night at the School
of Advanced Research Darwin Lecture at the Lensic, I was wondering
why a small city that can fill an auditorium for a lecture on Darwin
on a cold winters night cannot sustain its name-sake college. Is
it because there is no group that explicitly represents the many
people with interests in higher education who have been drawn to
Santa Fe? As the Governor and the Legislature decide what, if
anything, to do with the CSF campus, the presence of such an
interest group might tip the balance in favor of continuing and even
expanding the College of Santa Fe as a center of creativity,
scholarship, and technical innovation.
I am writing to ask if there any members of FRIAM willing to help
me put together such a group. So that it can provide a little
academic clout, I see its membership as composed centrally--but not
exclusivelyof people who have worked in colleges and universities.
It would offer
? a source of reliable information to its members on the status of
negotiations concerning the future of the CSF campus.
? access to national and international personal networks that would
assist in recruiting students and faculty to whatever institution
comes to SF to replace CSF.
? wealth of experience upon which that institution can draw as it
develops programs and seeks grants and funding from the federal
government and foundations to support these program. .
? experienced teachers with advanced degrees who might volunteer to
help the institution through its rocky first year.
? a focus of social and political energy to maintain SF as the sort
of place where a couple of hundred people will come out for a
lecture on Darwin on a cold February night.
Once this organization is established, I see it largely functioning
passively: i.e., as a locus of information exchange and as an
academic resource base. In the initial stages, it might be useful
and interesting to get the members together to share information and
establish a conversation, but I see no need for fund raising,
lobbying, or program development or more than an occasional
meeting. I see a simple website, a distribution list, and perhaps a
wiki. The goal is to Be There when They Need Us!
Let me have your ideas. If you need coffee to lubricate your
thought processes, I will buy. What I need most at this point is
the names of others who might share these concerns and want to
explore what we might do about them.
All the best,
Nick Thompson
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University
(nthompson
@clarku
.edu)============================================================
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