A big article with a bright photograph and the title “Natural selection” (SN 2/23) was published in The State News. Indeed, this is a great success for MSU to get BEACON, and this will allow the researchers “to break new ground in the study of evolution.” However, if you read carefully, you notice (twice, in the photo caption and on the second page) that the new center occupies “the room that was once the library in the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building.”
The library, earlier the place of pride for us and of envy for guests, was liquidated with amazing speed, the books and all equipment were taken away, probably to the Main Library, and the users — numerous students and professors — lost a nice, quiet place where it was possible to browse the books and magazines, study your subjects, prepare for classes and use computers.
It is hard to believe that MSU could not find a different place for the new center, and that it was absolutely necessary to demolish the library. The decision was taken so fast that even the professors of the Department of Physics and Astronomy learned about that news at the faculty meeting, so that their following letter with objections was too late because the matter was already decided without asking for their opinion.
This story also has another side. Working with the students for many years, I have to admit with deep regret that many of them, probably the majority, are scientifically almost illiterate. In the best case, they read their required textbooks. The presence and accessibility of a rich library was very important not only for research, but also equally for education. I am afraid that in this way, we can do our “Natural selection” in a wrong direction.
Vladimir Zelevinsky,
MSU physics professor
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