-I’ve had it with the land-grant system. They don’t
care about people. They care about money, power, profits and
greed,” charges Lyle McNeal, founder of Utah State University’s
Navajo Sheep Project, which brought traditional Churro sheep back
from the brink of extinction (HCN, 5/1/95).
Now,
the Navajo Sheep Project is in the process of becoming McNeal’s own
nonprofit, and he and the university at Logan are haggling over its
assets. McNeal argues they are “morally and ethically” his, but
fears the university plans to sell off the project’s land,
equipment and even sheep to the highest bidder to pay off the
project’s $100,000 debt – a debt McNeal says the university created
by hijacking the project’s private donations.
McNeal, a tenured professor of sheep and wool
science, filed suit against the university on April 18, charging it
with breach of contract and destruction of his reputation. He says
“the truth will come out” when the case is heard later this year in
federal district court in Salt Lake City.
Rod
Brown, Dean of USU’s College of Agriculture, denies that the
University plans to sell the sheep. As for turning the project over
to McNeal, Brown says, “Things are going along quite well.” He
refuses to comment on the lawsuit, but adds, “Before long (the
dispute) will all clear up and disappear.”
McNeal isn’t confident of that. To stop the
university from auctioning off the project, he is seeking a
restraining order. If university attorneys don’t cancel the sales,
McNeal says he’ll ask the judge to halt them: “I’m not going to let
them take the sheep.” Meanwhile, the sheep in question are near
Bear Lake, acting as bait in a federal coyote
study.
For more information, write Lyle McNeal at
The Navajo Sheep Project, P.O. Box 4454, Logan, UT 84323-4454, or
call Dean Rod Brown at 801/797-2215.
*Emily
Miller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bad blood over good sheep.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
