By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
After an outpouring of community support, Fort Hays State University president said Tuesday she is optimistic about raising enough funds to keep the Sternberg Museum open into next year.
"When we announced the closure, many community partners indicated a willingness to help, and we are very grateful and optimistic about reaching our $1 million goal of additional support from the community for fiscal year 27," FHSU President Tisa Mason said Tuesday during the Ellis County Commission meeting.
"As that comes to fruition, we have launched a faculty staff working group to build a sustainable vision for the future in our engaging external partners for additional opportunities to strengthen it.
"So we are taking the opportunity to say thank you to our partners. We've got a lot of work in the months ahead, but we are hoping to change the narrative if we are able to," she said.
Reese Barrick, museum director, said he and staff will meet with university officials on Thursday to discuss the museum’s future.
“What we've heard is that if we're successful with the fundraising, the museum doors will be able to stay open, and that will give us a year—give the museum, give the university a year to plot a course for the future, for a sustainable future,” Barrick said.
However, the community has shown an outpouring of support, not only locally but also from alumni and scientists nationwide.
In her announcement of closure, Mason cited an annual museum operating budget deficit of $855,000, $20 million in deferred maintenance and $2.4 million in budget cuts from the Kansas Legislature as reasons for the decision.
Mason issued another statement Tuesday afternoon. See below:
Earlier this year, the Kansas Legislature reduced base funding for the state's universities. For Fort Hays State, that reduction did not arrive in isolation.
We have long received the lowest level of state support per full-time-equivalent student in the system, and a cut applied equally across the regional universities only widened a disadvantage we have carried for years.
That is not a grievance. It is context, and it is the reality we must plan around. It was against that reality that we announced the closure of the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. That decision was financial. It was not a judgment on the Museum's value, its scholarship, or its place in this community.
As a result of the public response, several community partners, professional organizations and citizens have offered help. A potential new path forward is beginning to materialize.
This path forward is not guaranteed, and we must reach the $1 million goal to keep the museum in operation for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Later this week, the university will launch previously planned working groups to redesign our operational systems and financial structures, so that whatever we may offer stands on firmer ground than what it replaces.
To meet the community goal, the Fort Hays Foundation has launched a campaign to raise $1 million to bridge the fiscal year 2027 budget gap.
The campaign is available at https://foundation.fhsu.edu/save-sternberg/
If those commitments materialize, we can hold the museum's operations in place while the longer work of redesign proceeds.
Barrick said museums nationally, which parent organizations operate, earn only about 25 to 30% of their operating budget. The rest is subsidized by their parent organization, endowments or annual fundraising.
The Sternberg has earned about 40% of its budget, with the rest coming from the university.
In the last 27 years, it has not had any annual fundraising campaigns or events.
The FHSU Foundation has opened a fund for the Sternberg. The foundation’s initial goal has been to raise $855,000. As of Tuesday morning, $64,869 has been raised.
“If people can give any amount of money through the foundation portal, [that] would be fantastic,” Barrick said.
He said the museum will seek grant funding, but many community efforts have also worked to support the museum toward its fundraising goal.
A Save the Sternberg group has launched to educate the community and promote fundraising for the museum.
As of Tuesday morning, 18,403 had signed its petition to keep the museum open.
Various community groups are also planning fundraisers.
Barrick said the museum is still selling museum memberships, which will apply to the foundation total. He said some local businesses have even set out cash donation jars for the museum.
Barrick said he is working with community members and the foundation to coordinate fundraising efforts.
Barrick also addressed some of the deferred maintenance issues. He said most of those issues are being handled through the university’s buildings and grounds department, so he did not have all the details on that list.
However, he said the museum has been in its current location for 27 years. It has had some HVAC and roof work, and windows have been replaced during that time, but no major renovations.
There are leaks, the electrical and lighting systems are old, carpet needs to be replaced, and the museum will eventually need to be reroofed.
Some proponents of saving the museum have floated the idea of moving it out of its current location.
Barrick said a new building could be more efficient with HVAC, electricity and lighting.
“We're not wasteful in how we use all of our floor space, but it's a big dome, so I think there's certainly space efficiencies that could come out of a potentially new facility,” Barrick said.
“I think the possibility of that would be something I would certainly welcome anyway as a potential. I just wanted to really be moving forward.”
Barrick said he has been impressed by the support Sternberg has received.
“Yeah, so we really have an international presence, and the fact that we've gotten so much support from the local community, it makes it worth getting up every day and continuing to do what we do because you understand that what we do is truly valued and appreciated by the community,” Barrick said.
He urged the community to continue to support the museum.
“I just want to thank the community for their support and let them know that we still need their support.
“If they can come buy a membership or participate in the fundraiser in any small way,” he said, “it's hugely appreciated because we want to be here for the community in perpetuity, for the future, not just the short-term future, but for our long-term future for Hays and western Kansas.”