Old Controversy Continues At DAH; Director Responds

Continuing last week’s topic of the state’s top historian, Dr. Lisa Speer, throwing in her towel and quitting the Department of Arkansas Heritage has seen some new wrinkles.

The main wrinkle in the on-line discussions about the future job posting for state historian and the apparent lack of respect, authority and say-so this job has under the new alignment of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

As the debate continued, Stacy Hurst, the Asa Hutchinson appointed ADH director, who simply cannot stay out of a squabble, quickly entered the discussion.

Rather than have her statepaid assistant respond back to legitimate questions and eventoned answers to comments bandied about on a state history-list-serve (a group email that bounces back and forth between academics and others) DAH boss Hurst, entered the fray from her own state email address.

Some in the public might see this as a bold, autocratic, take-charge move, by the fiery-tempered Hurst.

Others, who know of Hurst’s “win-at-all-costs” political meanness, view it for what it is – out-and-out intimidation of anyone who would question her authority.

The firestorm began when the group email began debating the need for the proper background with an academic degree in history; archival studies; library science or an even rarer mix or combination of all three degree paths should be considered.

From an email within state government came this revelation that the job and its qualifications were changed in a recent legislative session.

“A Ph.D. used to be required for State Historian. OPM (Office of Professional Management) did not reclassify it on their own without prompting. It’s disingenuous to say OPM has standardized minimum qualifications for all positions because the change for State Historian was recent and requested.

“And preferred qualifications are merely a suggestion. Because it has been established that the minimum qualification is a bachelor’s degree in something outside of history, then that is all they are legally bound to consider.”

Hurst, then responded, personally with the following:

“Here is the statute that shows former requirements and the requirements following Act 2 of the Third Extraordinary Session:”

That was the Act to give Hurst authority over this newly melded group of state agencies.

A mark-up of the bill, showing the old language stricken and some new language added, followed.

Basically the “State Historian shall have a doctoral degree in the field of history from an accredited institution of higher education, as being determined by the Director of the Department of Arkansas Heritage to be qualified to perform the duties of State Historian after considering:

“The person’s academic background, the person’s editorial ability, the person’s knowledge of and interest in history; the person’s experience in the field of history, and any other factor the director determines to be relevant to performing the functions of this position.”

The last part of the “any other factor the director determines to be relevant to performing the functions…” is what set off more and more debate.

Some of the debate on qualifications referred to the AHD’s constant restructuring and use of its employees, after Hurst’s arrival.

These changes related to restructuring, qualifications, should have been presented publicly, with a reasonable comment period that actually included people who care about and utilize the departments and offices affected, one wrote amid the debate. I have to agree. Many others weighing in said the job description should have more and advanced archival training and experience.

At the crux of all the changes that have directed criticism at Hurst, is the state’s archives and her apparent lack of knowledge in their workings.

The archives are special places, which require procedures very different from most other academic fields. These archives are not to be warehouses, but places to assess, preserve, conserve, process, organize, catalog, explain, store and make accessible the documentary history of which the State is the custodian.

Directing the state’s historical archives and being the state Historian should not be a daily battle for funding, personnel, programs, preservation, promotion and awareness of the state’s legacy within an agency called the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

But, sadly, today it certainly seems so.