The Fayetteville blogger Iconoclast suggests today that the Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation, launched by the late banker and community visionary John Lewis, should look no further than the U of A campus to build, since former Chancellor John White did away with the museum there.
“UA Chancellor-designate David Gearhart now has an opportunity to correct John White’s colossal blunder and submit a proposal to host the new museum at the University, reclaiming that public educational institution’s intellectual contribution to ” ‘the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.’ “
The closing of the U of A Museum to save money was, like closing the UA Press, not a proud chapter in the state’s educational book. (The decision on the press was reversed.) The Northwest Arkansas Museum Foundation hopes to open its facility by 2012.