BREAKING NEWS: FHSU Foundation declines HDN interview; national paleontology leaders offer FHSU help as $1 million match gives Sternberg hope, but no reprieve

FHSU Foundation President Jason Williby has declined an interview offer from The Hays Daily News about the foundation’s relationship with Fort Hays State University and the Oct. 6 change in the Save Sternberg campaign’s fundraising goal, as national paleontology leaders offer the university expertise and a $1 million matching gift brings hope — but no reprieve — for the museum.

On Oct. 12, Williby tentatively agreed to hold 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, for a telephone interview to be confirmed and scheduled after Hayley Bieker, FHSU Foundation senior director of communications, returned to the office.

This morning via email, Williby respectfully passed on The Hays Daily News’ offer of a phone interview to discuss questions about how the FHSU Foundation works, its relationship to FHSU and the Office of the President, its Board of Trustees, and the Oct. 6 change in the goal for the Save Sternberg fundraising campaign.

“At this time, we are focusing on fundraising and communication with our donors,” Williby wrote.

As the foundation focuses on the Save Sternberg fundraising campaign, national paleontology leaders are offering FHSU specialized expertise to help determine Sternberg’s future. In an exclusive interview Wednesday morning, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology President Stuart Sumida detailed that offer and the society’s concerns about the museum’s collections and public operations.

In an Oct. 9 letter to FHSU President Tisa Mason, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) executive leadership offered to help FHSU find a path forward with Sternberg. The international society represents approximately 2,000 researchers, educators, students and paleontology enthusiasts. SVP’s letter to Mason also urged the university to abandon any consideration of working with commercial fossil dealers and to preserve the integrity of Sternberg’s collections.

SVP President Stuart Sumida said in an exclusive interview this morning that the society’s qualified members, including FHSU alums, and federal-agency partners are prepared to help FHSU find a legal, ethical and preservation-focused strategic direction for Sternberg. He said that Mason has not yet responded directly to the society’s offer to help; however, the organization received a brief acknowledgment of the SVP Oct. 9 correspondence, with thanks for the information the letter provided, from another FHSU administrator.

The offer comes as the Schmidt Foundation has pledged to match up to $1 million in donations from individuals and businesses to the official Save Sternberg campaign through Dec. 31. The match was announced by Mason and Schmidt Foundation President Gary Shorman in a video posted Tuesday evening on FHSU’s Facebook page. Mason said the campaign had already raised more than $235,000 and described the matching gift as reason to believe Sternberg has “a very bright future.”

“Well, you know, I never really wanted to close it,” Mason said.

The tone of the match announcement was hopeful; however, it did not include a reprieve. Neither Mason nor Shorman said the university had rescinded, postponed or suspended Mason’s decision to close Sternberg’s public-facing operations Dec. 18. The matching campaign extends 13 days beyond that date.

Sumida called the match hopeful but said questions remain about how fundraising to save Sternberg aligns with reported contingency planning to close public operations and move collections.

As reported yesterday, when the Hays Daily News sought confirmation of information indicating university administrators were asking Sternberg employees to plan for sharply different outcomes, Eric Grospitch, FHSU senior advisor for executive operations, confirmed that Provost Jill Arensdorf held a private meeting with Sternberg staff last week but would not provide information about the discussion because it was a closed meeting.

Neither Arensdorf nor Grospitch denied that employees had been told to prepare for two possibilities: an unspecified “best case” scenario and a “worst case” scenario of the museum’s public facing operations closing on Dec. 18 and the move of the collection to a yet-to-be determined location by July 1, 2027.

Sumida said moving thousands of specimens would require tremendous effort and expense.

“I see no reason to move them if they are also at the same time telling us that they want to raise money to save the museum,” he said.

Sumida reported that SVP’s concern intensified last week after the Hays Daily News identified Salomon Aaron as the outside adviser retained by FHSU before Mason announced the closure. The London-based company deals in antiquities, fossils and natural-history objects. FHSU previously described the firm as an adviser experienced in museum transactions.

Sumida rejected the characterization of Salomon Aaron as a paleontological or museum consultant.

“Salomon Aaron is not a paleontological consultant,” Sumida said. “Salomon Aaron represents an auction house in London, England, whose business is to sell antiquities and fossils.”

He said SVP’s concern is not based on proof that FHSU has attempted to sell specimens, but on the professional and ethical implications of involving a commercial dealer in discussions about a public museum’s collections.

The society’s letter states that Sternberg’s own collections policy gives FHSU a fiduciary responsibility to preserve its holdings “in perpetuity for the common good.” The policy says deaccessioned natural-history specimens may never be transferred from public to private ownership. It also prohibits removing type specimens or scientifically significant specimens from the public trust through sale or any other means.

Sternberg houses 37 holotypes—the primary physical specimens upon which formal species names are based—as well as fossils collected from federal lands.

The SVP letter said fossils collected from places including Comanche National Grasslands and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument remain federal property in perpetuity under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act. They cannot legally be sold or transferred into commercial or private ownership.

Sumida said SVP can confirm that Sternberg holds federally owned fossils that must remain in the public trust. He also said selling donated specimens could violate commitments made to private landowners and others who entrusted fossils to the museum for research, preservation and public education.

Beyond the collections, Sumida emphasized the consequences of closing what FHSU calls Sternberg’s “public-facing operations.”

“The public-facing components of museums like the Sternberg are the way science educates the public,” he said. “Once you don’t get to educate the public, you take science away from the public, and that is one of the fundamental functions of museums.”

Sumida said maintaining research access to stored collections would not replace public exhibits, educational programming or visits by schoolchildren and university students. Public attendance also helps museums demonstrate their relevance and maintain financial support, he said.

“What you’re doing is you’re taking away the education of K through 12, as well as Fort Hays State University students,” Sumida said. “You are fundamentally crippling education when you do that.”

Sumida said Sternberg and the closure of the Drexel University Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia are among the most important institutional issues SVP has addressed this year. He added that researchers from around the world use Sternberg’s collections.

“It is a phenomenally important local issue,” Sumida said, “but it’s one that reaches around the globe.”

The Schmidt Foundation’s gift could double the impact of donations and buy FHSU time to develop the sustainable operating model Mason has said the museum needs. The university has estimated Sternberg’s annual shortfall at approximately $850,000 and established a $1 million initial fundraising goal.

Sumida stressed SVP’s offer provides the resource of specialists, without commercial interest in the collections, willing to help FHSU.

“We have professionals who work in paleontology and at museums who have the expertise, both with federal law and museum policy,” Sumida said. “We could help advise how to do this in a scientifically ethical manner.”