BREAKING NEWS – FHSU confirms five community leaders in Mason’s Sternberg committee

By Gaille Pike

Special to the Hays Daily News

Fort Hays State University (FHSU) has confirmed President Tisa Mason met with five Hays community leaders as part of an effort to determine a sustainable future for the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

The five are Hays City Commissioner Sandy Jacobs, Rick and Gail Kuehl, Gary Shorman and Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Williams. FHSU Senior Advisor for Executive Operations Eric Grospitch confirmed Monday that Mason had met with them.

The confirmation also brings into sharper focus questions raised in the Hays Daily News’ Oct. 30, Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 reporting. Among them: who will help shape Sternberg’s future, how museum staff and scientific experts will participate, what long-term funding FHSU will provide and whether the university will permanently rule out selling specimens from the museum’s permanent collections.

The Hays Daily News contacted FHSU Tuesday morning in an effort to ensure the university’s and Mason’s perspectives or comments were included accurately. Questions included when and where the meetings occurred, whether Mason met with participants individually or as a group, whether others attended, how she views the group’s role and why Sternberg Museum Director Reese Barrick is not included.

No response was received by the newspaper’s stated 1 p.m. deadline. FHSU was told answers received after the deadline would be reported in upcoming Sternberg coverage.

Jacobs said she was uncertain whether she was selected because she is a city commissioner or because of other community leadership roles she has held.

“I was honored to be given the opportunity to help,” Jacobs said. “I think it is our role to consider the future of the Sternberg, what organizational, financial and institutional arrangements will make that future possible and sustainable and who is willing and able to take responsibility for making it happen.”

Jacobs said she has visited Sternberg often with her grandchildren and for events but plans to receive “a top-to-bottom tour.”

Williams also said Mason asked him to participate, although he was uncertain whether he was approached because he serves as Grow Hays executive director.

“I was asked to participate, and I gladly agreed to help in any way I could,” Williams said.

“I am hopeful that this group can explore sustainable operating models that can be implemented at the Sternberg to ensure its ongoing viability,” he said.

The Hays Daily News also contacted Shorman and the Kuehls Tuesday morning, seeking clarification about the capacities in which they are participating and their views of the group’s role. No responses were received by the stated deadline.

In her Nov. 2 campus email, Mason said she was leading “a group of community partners focused on forging external partnerships and long-term opportunities to support the Sternberg Museum.” FHSU’s previous response did not identify participants or explain how their work would connect with the museum director, curators, staff or internal working groups.

The group’s emergence comes as FHSU works toward a sustainable model for Sternberg following Mason’s reversal of the planned Dec. 18 closure. Questions about long-term stability have already affected at least one prospective donation.

On Nov. 4, Triebold Paleontology Senior Curator Anthony Maltese said a newly discovered western Kansas fish fossil that had been days away from donation to Sternberg was instead being considered for another institution. Maltese said uncertainty surrounding Sternberg caused Triebold to reconsider where the scientifically important specimen should be housed.

“I’m sad that the specimen donation didn’t happen, but it’s a good example of how President Mason’s choices are having real and immediate consequences for the Sternberg Museum and for research in general,” Maltese said.

That development adds weight to the question now facing FHSU and the newly identified community group: whether a long-term plan can restore enough stability and confidence for researchers and donors to continue placing scientifically important specimens at Sternberg.

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology President Stuart Sumida, responding to the prospective donation’s loss, placed responsibility for resolving that uncertainty with university leadership.

“By abdicating the responsibility of finding funds for the Sternberg to others, President Mason is essentially washing her hands of a problem that she herself created,” Sumida wrote.

Triebold’s decision regarding the fish fossil has not ended its support of Sternberg. The company is donating a cast skull of a Megacephalosaurus for the Nov. 20 “Roar & Raise for the Future” fundraiser, and Maltese plans to attend and speak on Sternberg’s behalf.

Questions about the museum’s collections also remain unresolved. On Oct. 30, Sternberg adjunct curator Kenshu Shimada asked FHSU for an unequivocal public assurance that selling specimens from Sternberg’s permanent collections was completely off the table. He emphasized their continuing scientific value.

“There are no ‘dispensable specimens’ in the permanent collections at the Sternberg Museum,” Shimada wrote.

Meanwhile, the FHSU Foundation’s Save Sternberg campaign has exceeded its original $1 million goal. As of 1:16 p.m. Tuesday, the campaign page reported $1,247,428. Of the $1 million match offered by the Bob and Pat Schmidt Foundation, $623,714 had been matched, leaving $376,286 in matching funds available.

Astronomy Night is scheduled from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, at Sternberg Museum and Nature Trail, 3000 Sternberg Drive. The free, come-and-go event is sponsored by the FHSU Astronomy Club, FHSU Physics Department and Science and Mathematics Education Institute. Telescopes will be available to view the moon, Saturn, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades and other celestial objects, weather and clear skies permitting. The SMEI Portable Planetarium will also be available inside the museum. Donations to Sternberg are welcome.

Fundraising has bought Sternberg time, and FHSU has now identified five community members involved in considering what comes next. Still unanswered is whether the process will produce the long-term commitments needed to secure Sternberg’s collections, research and educational mission and restore the confidence of those who entrust the museum with western Kansas’ natural heritage.