What this hearing is
Council’s September 17 resolution, Resolution 260737, authorizes the Committee on Legislative Oversight “to hold hearings investigating the announced closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University’s public museum, its consequences for Philadelphia, and options to preserve public access and the institution’s scientific and educational mission,” and to issue subpoenas under the Home Rule Charter. That resolution is the one item on the committee’s November 16 agenda.
The first session, on October 26, heard the Academy’s board chair testify that a year ago Drexel gave the trustees a choice between a full merger and a divorce, heard Councilmember Landau read the 2011 affiliation agreement’s obligations into the record, and heard more than 40 members of the public, a minute each. The numbers Council was given did not agree with each other. What happened, with Council’s recording, is on its own page.
Who is under subpoena
When Drexel’s president, Antonio Merlo, and Deputy Mayor Trish Wellenbach did not appear on October 26, Councilmember Young asked for subpoenas and Chair Thomas recessed the hearing so they could be issued; the committee subpoenaed both to testify on November 16. A subpoena is a legal order to appear and testify. It means the questions that went unanswered on October 26, about the two-year study, the affiliation agreement and what happens to the building on the Parkway, can be put to the people who made the decision.
Speak, or send written testimony
Council’s rule for every committee hearing: a speaker signs up with the office of the committee’s chair by 3 p.m. the day before the hearing, giving a full name, a callback phone number and the item being addressed, here Resolution 260737. People sign up individually, not for a group, and testimony stays on what is printed on the agenda. The chair is Councilmember Isaiah Thomas: City Hall, Room 330, (215) 686-3446 or (215) 686-3447; his staff page lists David Maynard, Legislative Director, at (267) 969-1843, the contact who confirmed speakers before October 26. The day before November 16 is a Sunday, so call or write by Friday, November 13.
If you cannot be there, written testimony or comment goes by email and becomes part of the public record: send it to Grace.Savage@phila.gov and RayShawn.Johnson@phila.gov at City Council, and copy the coalition at comms@save-the-academy.org so we can count it. Say who you are, what the museum has meant to you or your work, and what you are asking Council to do. On October 26 more than 40 people spoke, a minute or two each, after the witnesses.
The next morning: the zoning bill
On Tuesday, November 17, at 10 a.m., in the same room, the Committee on Rules takes up Councilmember Young’s zoning bill for the Academy site, Bill No. 260764 (the Rules Committee agenda). Two mornings in a row at City Hall; who to call on City Council has what to ask each member for.
Getting there
City Hall sits at Broad and Market Streets, on top of the City Hall station (Broad Street Line) and next to 15th Street station (Market-Frankford Line) and Suburban Station. Everyone goes through security at the public entrance; City Council’s plan-your-visit page has the entrances and the rules: small handheld signs are welcome, nothing mounted on a stick or pole, and no large banners. Arrive early; the room fills. If you cannot be in the room, Council’s watch page has the live stream.
Keep calling
Thank the members who showed up on October 26, and ask every office to be in Room 400 on November 16. What to ask for, and what to say to each of them, is on our who to call on City Council page.
Share this page: save-the-academy.org/council-hearing-2026-11-16
Sources: City Council’s rules for public testimony at committee hearings (the 3 p.m. deadline, what to give, written testimony by email to the chair’s office); Councilmember Thomas’s office page and staff page on phlcouncil.com; the Committee on Legislative Oversight’s November 16 meeting and agenda on Legistar (10 a.m., Room 400, Resolution 260737); the September 17 resolution; Council’s recording of the October 26 hearing, which carries the chair’s recess to November 16 and Councilmember Landau’s invitation; the Inquirer, October 30, on the subpoenas; the Committee on Rules agenda for November 17 (Bill No. 260764); City Council’s plan-your-visit and watch pages.