The Linnaeus Deliberation Circle was created by the Gustavus Board of Trustees to understand stakeholder impacts surrounding the current name of the arboretum and explore possible plans of action that were presented to the Board of Trustees in May 2021.
At the Circle’s first meeting in January 2021, Gustavus Board of Trustees chair, Scott Anderson, gave the group its charge:
- To consider impacts of Linnaeus’ writings about a system of human classification.
- To evaluate information the Board needs to know about such impacts.
- To create decision-focused scenarios that carefully weigh potential impacts.
- To extend this as an educational opportunity to the entire campus as part of Gustavus’ DEI effort.
In Phase 1, the Circle identified stakeholder impacts, gathered historical information, invited input from Linnaeus experts, surveyed how scholars and institutions are talking about the impact of Linnaeus‘ legacy and writings in the U.S. and around the world, and explored additional questions to research.
In Phase 2, the Circle is working to gather input from the greater Gustavus community and other connected stakeholders as they are creating decision-making scenarios to bring to the Board of Trustees at their May meeting.
After this, the Board of Trustees will meet in September and continue discussing how to proceed.