Milestones

Our press conference at 1 p.m. on the north side of City Hall; the Committee on Legislative Oversight’s hearing at 2 p.m. in Room 400, with the room and the overflow full and public comment running into the evening.

A month after Drexel and the Academy’s board closed the museum, City Council held the hearing it voted for in September. We opened with a press conference outside, handed out the sheet of questions the public wanted asked, and filled Room 400 and the overflow: by our count, between 230 and 250 people came.

Our side spoke first. Dr. Sarah McAnulty testified for the coalition alongside the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Preservation Alliance and the Museum Council: in September alone, 60,726 people visited the museum and bought 865,000 dollars in tickets; the Academy needs a hard reset under an independent commission of natural history museum experts, and a world-class city must have a world-class natural history museum.

Ten things that happened in Room 400

1. 
   The Mayor’s office sent a letter instead of a witness. Councilmember Young called it disrespect, tore up a copy and ultimately asked for subpoenas; Chair Thomas recessed the hearing for November 16 rather than adjourn it so they can continue the hearing. ▶ Watch at 0:14:53 · the chair’s recess (0:16:55)
2. 
   Drexel’s president and chief financial officer stayed away. Staff from the president’s office read their statement: the closure rested on a Pew-funded study that “explicitly recommended” it, and any future museum would be “almost certainly in a different location.” ▶ Watch at 1:13:47 · “a different location” (1:17:57)
3. 
   The Academy’s board chair, Suzanne Biemiller, testified that a year ago Drexel gave the trustees a binary choice, merge fully (the $80 million endowment, the building and the collections becoming Drexel’s) or divorce, and that the ultimatum “upended and stymied” the Academy’s own planning. Drexel has no leadership plan for the Academy. ▶ Watch at 1:10:28 · no leadership plan (1:43:23)
4. 
   The numbers do not agree. Drexel: public programs cost $7.7 million against $3 million in revenue. The Academy: the museum cost $3.6 million against $2.7 million, open five days a week. Councilmember Lozada: “this is less than a million dollars.” ▶ Watch at 1:51:48 · Lozada (1:57:18) · Drexel’s $7.7 million (1:58:13)
5. 
   Chair Thomas asked whether the museum would reopen in place if the city and private money covered the gap. Drexel’s answer: “that would certainly be a possibility.” He called it the best answer of the day. ▶ Watch at 2:01:58 · the answer (2:03:18)
6. 
   Councilmember Landau read the 2011 affiliation agreement into the record: Drexel funds the Academy’s operating deficits, approves its budgets, had to approve ending a major public program, and committed to rejuvenate the Parkway building. “We’re not doing this again in Philly.” ▶ Watch at 1:44:40 · the agreement’s sections (1:47:27) · “not doing this again” (1:49:43)
7. 
   None of the cultural leaders on the first panel had been warned by Drexel, and the Museum Council’s Alex Palma called the William Penn Foundation’s year of funding “a once in a lifetime offer” that has still not been taken up. The Preservation Alliance has retained a historian to nominate the building to the Philadelphia Register, which anyone can file and which can be done in well under a year. ▶ Watch at 1:00:59 · “once in a lifetime offer” (0:51:11) · the Register nomination (1:02:08)
8. 
   Councilmember Ahmad announced an advisory task force on the Academy’s future and asked whether Drexel sought the Attorney General’s or Orphans’ Court’s approval; Drexel’s counsel said nothing about the entity had changed, so it did not. ▶ Watch at 2:19:23 · the Attorney General question (2:14:03) · Drexel’s counsel (2:15:21)
9. 
   The Academy’s departing education director: 43 positions eliminated, about three-quarters of the public-side staff gone in layoffs since 2019. Ted Daeschler: moving 19 million specimens would likely cost more than fixing the building. ▶ Watch at 2:22:49 · Ted Daeschler (2:28:02)
10. 
    More than 40 members of the public signed up to speak, a minute each, and kept the hearing going until the close: Susan Glassman of the Wagner Free Institute; Marie Gilbert, 80, who ran the museum’s changing exhibits and birthday parties; Mark Sabaj, the Academy’s collection manager of fishes for 26 years; Nancy Peter, who ran the Women in Natural Sciences program; a Drexel alumna who never got an appeal to help; parents with their kids; Amber Redfield, the educator who dusted the T. rex and loses her job in six days; a 16-year-old volunteer the chair asked the room to applaud; Tannia Schrieber on what the public filings show; and a nonprofit fundraiser who told Council “there is no financial crisis.” Councilmember Young read a nine-and-three-quarters-year-old’s letter into the record first. The hearing continues Monday, November 16, at 10 a.m., with subpoenas. ▶ Watch at 2:45:24 · Marie Gilbert (2:56:23) · Amber Redfield (3:28:16) · “no financial crisis” (3:34:04) · the close (3:42:18)

From Council’s recording of the hearing and our own transcript; see also PhillyVoice, the Inquirer and NBC10.

What comes next. The hearing is recessed, not over: it continues Monday, November 16, at 10 a.m., with subpoenas for the witnesses who stayed away, and Council’s official transcript will appear in its Transcript Room. Drexel has since published its testimony.

Watch the recording Our statement on the hearing The hearing page Coverage of the day

Noon to 1 p.m. Eastern, live on Zoom; 822 registered, 640 joined, 3 days’ notice.

Eighteen days after leadership closed the museum, emcee Corina Newsome led an hour of stories and action: Alie Ward, Dr. Jessica Ware, Dr. Kory Evans, Dr. Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian, Janelle Richardson, Tykee James, Isa Betancourt and Dr. Sarah McAnulty, and a surprise guest, Councilmember Nina Ahmad, on the October 26 hearing. The take-action break put hundreds of posts on social media at once.

Watch the recording

5 p.m., outside the National Constitution Center at 525 Arch Street, where Drexel’s Board of Trustees gathered for a reception.

Two days after the museum’s last public day, Drexel’s Board of Trustees gathered for a reception at the National Constitution Center, and we were outside with signs and chants so the people deciding the Academy’s future heard from Philadelphia first.

Our message to the board: disaffiliate and let Philadelphia save the Academy intact, accept the William Penn Foundation’s offer of assistance, and make time for an independent, public process to decide the Academy’s future. Supporters who could not be there were asked to contact the office of Drexel’s President.

The protest page

The museum’s last scheduled public day. Candle Vigil at 5 p.m. in front of the Academy, then a march to City Hall.

Visitors filled the museum all day. KYW Newsradio reported that hundreds packed the Academy for its last day of operation, and The Inquirer described a final day of “tears, nostalgia, and disbelief.” When the doors closed at 5 p.m., supporters gathered outside with candles for the Candle Vigil, then marched and chanted from the Academy to City Hall.

The vigil’s call to gather said it plainly: this isn’t over. The doors closed “for now,” and we came together for a moment of resolve, so there would be no denying that Philadelphia demands the Academy stays open. We want Drexel to accept the William Penn Foundation’s offer, because this museum is an important part of our city and our culture. And we want transparency, a full understanding of what happened and what is going on, so we can work toward solutions that keep the Academy of Natural Sciences open and sustainable. Coalition volunteers spoke at the Academy, and Councilmember Jeffery Young spoke when the march arrived at City Hall.

NBC10 wrote that the museum “may not be gone forever,” and Inquirer columnist Mike Newall asked, an hour after the doors closed, whether this is really how it ends. The same day, the story wall passed 100 stories from people about what the museum means to them.

What comes next. City Council called for a hearing on the closure on September 17; the Committee on Legislative Oversight had it on its agenda for Wednesday, October 7, and on October 5 the hearing was postponed to Monday, October 26, at 2 p.m., according to Councilmember Young. The William Penn Foundation’s offer has not yet been accepted.

The Candle Vigil page Coverage of the day Read the stories

2 to 6 p.m., in front of the Academy at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the day before the museum’s last scheduled public day. Hosted by the Save the Academy Coalition.

Under three tents in the rain, the coalition put on an afternoon for the families who love this museum: face painting, a sign-making station, coloring and fossil tables, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and live music from anth2o, Jean Coppa Milani and Johnny Shortcake, with a DJ’d dance party to open. Volunteers handed out flyers and ponchos to the museum’s Saturday crowds, an ad truck circled the Parkway with the campaign’s message, and an inflatable T. rex walked the block.

The Inquirer reported that families braved the rain to protest the closure ahead of Sunday’s final day; Billy Penn covered the dinosaur costumes and signs of the last push. The same day, State Senator Nikil Saval published his letter to Drexel and the Academy’s board asking that the museum stay open through the end of the year, and Councilmembers Nina Ahmad and Jeffery Young Jr. issued a joint statement urging Drexel and the Academy to accept the William Penn Foundation’s offer.

What came next. Sunday, September 27, was the museum’s last scheduled public day: the Candle Vigil and the march to City Hall.

The Family Rally page Coverage of the day

Bridge funding to keep the Academy’s public museum open, reported by The Inquirer.

The William Penn Foundation offered bridge funding to keep the Academy’s public museum open, The Inquirer reported. It is the first concrete offer of money on the table since the closure was announced on September 1, and as of this weekend Drexel and the Academy’s board have not yet accepted it.

Councilmembers Ahmad and Young urged Drexel and the Academy the next day to accept the offer and keep the Academy open for the public.

What you can do. Tell Drexel’s president and the Academy’s interim leader to take the deal: both are on the action list.

Take action Coverage

Philadelphia City Hall, the first session of Council’s fall term.

The morning began outside Room 405, where Councilmembers Nina Ahmad, Jeffery Young Jr. and Anthony Phillips held a press conference on the Academy’s closure with the Save the Academy Coalition beside them. Phillips called it “irresponsible” that the Academy’s leadership had never come to Council before announcing the closure; Ahmad said Council would look at the financial statements, the audits and the decisions that led up to September 1 (WHYY).

The coalition’s remarks set out what it stands for: the oldest natural history museum in the United States, slated to close in the country’s 250th year, with more than 300 people at the rally in one week, 7,000 petition signatures and 4,000 Instagram followers behind the demand that it stay put and open. Inside, the public comment period filled with people who had signed up to speak for the Academy: teachers, parents, scientists, a former staff volunteer, a landscape architect who had helped save Smith Memorial Playground, a twelve-year-old. Sixty people had signed up to speak that day (Inquirer). Then, just after 11 a.m., a bag left on a chair in the chamber set off a bomb-squad evacuation of the whole building. No device was found, everyone was let back in before 1 p.m., and the session resumed with the rest of the public comment (Tribune).

“A sudden announcement of a 200-year-old institution closing within weeks? That’s not right. … We hope the City officials can help enact a time-limited moratorium on closure, sale, relocation, or irreversible dismantling, accompanied by full financial and governance disclosure and an independently managed rescue process. Do not spend millions disassembling and moving a great Pennsylvania institution; invest those dollars in repairing it, reopening it fully, employing Pennsylvanians, and making it the natural-science classroom of the Commonwealth.”Ileana Betancourt, for the Save the Academy Coalition, at the press conference

“It is a disgrace to just close down a place that past generations of children have been able to enjoy. Future generations of children deserve the same experiences. … If university administrators can make seven-figure salaries, then surely they can be expected to have experienced fundraising to try to keep the museum open.”Jack, 12, in public comment (WHYY)

“The public deserves to know whether every realistic alternative has been considered before such an important institution disappears from the public.”A supporter’s public comment, September 17

At 2:12 p.m. the Chief Clerk read the resolution: it authorizes Council’s 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 the public access to and the institution’s scientific and educational mission,” with the power to subpoena testimony. Councilmember Young moved its adoption, noting it was co-introduced by Councilmember Ahmad.

The resolution passed. It was adopted by voice vote with no one opposed (Council’s session recording). That means there will be a hearing and an investigation into the closure. This is big.

“We don’t have to stay in that sorry state. There are options and opportunities to address this issue without closure being on the table.”Councilmember Nina Ahmad, from the floor, September 17

What it means. For the first time, a public body has a formal way to get the answers nobody has been given: what the museum costs to run, what closing it saves, what alternatives were considered, and who decided. A hearing with subpoena power is where those numbers come out in public. The date has not been set. When it is, we will need the biggest turnout yet.

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