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Ambassadors
Rebut Herald Columnist's Charge of Library 'Pork'
When Boston Herald columnist Rachelle Cohen recently took aim at a $1 million earmark for the Du Bois Library in the state Senate's proposed Fiscal 2001 budget, several ambassadors and faculty fired back with letters to the editor. Within hours after Cohen lambasted the budget item as pork barrel politicking by Senate President Thomas Birmingham in her June 7 column, more than 100 ambassadors received an e-mailed "media alert" from Cheryl L. Dukes, assistant coordinator of Advocacy Programs. The alert, which included a hyperlink to the Herald column, encouraged the ambassadors to respond. Over the next couple of weeks, nine advocates took up the challenge and six of their letters were published in the Herald. Two ambassadors also chose to post their rebuttals of Cohen's comments on the Herald's online forum. In his letter published June 12, Richard S. Stein, director of the Polymer Research Institute and Goessmann Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, wrote, "The rating of our library has long been among the lowest of public universities. Coming from a state which prides itself on its educational institutions, we should be ashamed. Providing adequate support for library holdings is priority spending, not pork." "The university library serves the entire state including, but not limited to, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and community residents," wrote Gwen Weisberg, a member of the Alumni Association board of directors who lives in South Windsor, Conn. "Without funding for library reference materials, the university would be unable to support its schools and departments." Also defending the library funding was Bruce Cherner of Milton: "It is imperative that they be kept up to date if the institution is to maintain its status among university libraries." His comments were echoed by Todd Lever of Agawam, who wrote, "To maintain its emerging status as a premier university, UMass must build not only its collection of books and journals, but also invest in electronic communications and multimedia resources." Loring Barnes of Millis took Cohen to task for criticizing library funding while the Boston media debate millions in support for a new Red Sox stadium. "In this context, how can a journalist keep a straight face while questioning the merits of a paltry $1 million to support the tremendous research and learning that takes place at Massachusetts' flagship public university?" The most recent riposte to Cohen's attack came in Monday's paper from professors Julie Brigham-Grette and Robert A. Rothstein, the outgoing and incoming chairs of the Research Library Council. In their letter, they called appropriations "an investment in the intellectual infrastructure of the commonwealth, an investment no less important than investments in physical infrastructure." |
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