By Suzanne Perez, Kansas News Service
In an announcement late Monday, Fort Hays State University President Tisa Mason said the Sternberg will close Dec. 18. On Tuesday afternoon, supporters of the Sternberg Museum launched an online fundraising campaign in hopes of saving it.
Supporters said they want to raise $855,000 by year’s end to help sustain future operations.
“Sternberg is more than a museum. It is a true gem that makes Hays and northwest Kansas unique,” the fundraising website says. “We are fortunate to have an institution of this caliber right here in our own backyard – and we cannot take it for granted.”
Museum officials posted on the Sternberg’s Facebook page that they “were not aware that our doors were at risk of closing until the decision was made, and we initially were not given the opportunity to find a way to save ourselves.”
But they said Tuesday that the Fort Hays State University Foundation “has been given the green light to begin fundraising directly on our behalf.”
University leaders have not said whether the closure would be canceled or postponed if the museum raises money for its operating expenses.
Mason told the Hays City Commission during a meeting last week that the school faces a $2.4 million cut in state funding and needs to eliminate any programs that do not directly benefit students.
“The key question that we are asking is, ‘If we stopped this activity tomorrow, would students be less likely to enroll, persist, graduate, or secure successful employment, and can we back that up with data?’” Mason said.
Mason said in the statement that the Sternberg “has not been financially stable for some time.” It spends about $1.3 million a year and generates about $470,000 in revenue from visitors, memberships grants and sales, she said.
The building that houses the museum also has about $20 million in deferred maintenance.
“Over the past decade, the annual subsidy averaged about $835,000,” she said in the statement. “For a university that is already the leanest operator among the Kansas Board of Regents universities, that is not a gap we can close on our own.”
Mason said closing the museum will save the university about $850,000 – about a third of the current budget gap and “the largest single piece of our solution.”
She said Fort Hays State plans about $1 million in other cuts across the university and still needs to find about $550,000 to close the budget gap.
“When you cut into your leanest, most efficient state university, you are not trimming excess. You are cutting into muscle,” Mason said.
According to a study by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs, Fort Hays State has an annual impact of more than $240 million on its region, and is the No. 2 employer in Ellis County.
Mason said closing the Sternberg was a difficult decision, and pointed to state lawmakers as the cause.
“The frustration in our community right now is real, and it is understandable. However, its true source is not a disagreement about whether Sternberg belongs in our academic mission. It does; that was never in question,” Mason said.
“The real source is a funding model that has asked more of FHSU than it asks of its peers, and a set of legislative decisions that made $2.4 million in cuts, with more likely on the way.”
Supporters of the Sternberg have urged the university and local officials to reconsider.
Jessica Lamb, who works on the museum’s animal care team, told city leaders last week that she worries what will happen to about 100 live animals housed in the Sternberg.
“Right now, we are terrified. We are heartbroken. We have cried nonstop with thinking about having to say goodbye to these animals, our babies, our families,” Lamb said.
“We are more than a building or a budget, we are a true living and breathing part of the community of Hays.”
Some supporters said Fort Hays should eliminate athletic programs before closing the Sternberg.
