Defunding fungi: US’s living library of ‘vital ecosystem engineers’ is in danger of closing; The Guardian, December 26, 2025

Ben Martynoga, The Guardian; Defunding fungi: US’s living library of ‘vital ecosystem engineers’ is in danger of closing

"Inside a large greenhouse at the University of Kansas, Professor Liz Koziol and Dr Terra Lubin tend rows of sudan grass in individual plastic pots. The roots of each straggly plant harbor a specific strain of invisible soil fungus. The shelves of a nearby cold room are stacked high with thousands of plastic bags and vials containing fungal spores harvested from these plants, then carefully preserved by the researchers.

The samples in this seemingly unremarkable room are part of the International Collection of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (INVAM), the world’s largest living library of soil fungi. Four decades in the making, it could cease to exist within a year due to federal budget cuts.

For leading mycologist Toby Kiers, this would be catastrophic. “INVAM represents a library of hundreds of millions of years of evolution,” said Kiers, executive director of the Society for Protection of Underground Networks (Spun). “Ending INVAM for scientists is like closing the Louvre for artists."

Plagiarism is a big deal. This new case at the University of Kansas wasn’t the first; The Kansas City Star, February 10, 2022

TIMOTHY MILLER, The Kansas City Star; Plagiarism is a big deal. This new case at the University of Kansas wasn’t the first

"The University of Kansas recently announced the resignation, under pressure, of its interim Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging D. A. Graham, who had held the position since December 2020. The message he sent to the university community to mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as KU explained, “contained sentences similar or identical to those in a message written by Curtis L. Coy, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity in the Veterans Benefits Administration, in 2015.” Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer called the termination “a consequence that befits the action.” KU, like universities everywhere, regards plagiarism as a cardinal academic sin."