Fort Hays State University (FHSU) President Tisa Mason’s internal campus-wide email Monday reaffirms plans to keep Sternberg Museum open while developing a sustainable model, but leaves three questions unresolved: future university funding, how collections evaluations will guide decisions, and who belongs to her community-partner group.
The Hays Daily News obtained the Nov. 2 message approximately two hours after distribution.
Underlying all three is museum staff’s role in shaping Sternberg’s future. Mason’s description of fundraising and collaboration continues earlier messaging, while staff accounts describe collections work underway alongside unanswered assistance requests and uncertainty about Museum Director Reese Barrick’s involvement in her community group.
In a response Tuesday, FHSU representative Eric Grospitch said the university is working collaboratively with museum faculty and staff, community partners and other stakeholders. His response offered additional information about administrators’ engagement with the museum but did not identify the community group’s members or explain how staff recommendations and outside partnerships will come together in the university’s final plan.
Funding: What replaces the “status quo”?
Mason reaffirmed that no public closure date remains scheduled. She rescinded the Dec. 18 closure Oct. 26 after gifts, verbal commitments and matching support surpassed the initial $1 million goal.
That provided current fiscal-year breathing room, not guaranteed continuation of existing operations.
“This is not a rescue of the status quo,” Mason told lawmakers.
Staff say that during the private meeting with Provost Jill Arensdorf and Dean Mark Arant, which they date to Oct. 8, they asked whether “rightsizing” meant downsizing and were told the “status quo” referred to Sternberg’s longstanding funding model: approximately 45% museum revenue and 55% university support.
Such support is common among academic museums; Inside Higher Ed cited Association of Academic Museums and Galleries data showing that the typical institution supplies about 60% of its museum’s operating budget. The question is what arrangement FHSU intends to put in place—and how it will build on staff’s efforts to increase earned income.
Those efforts were already underway before the closure announcement. As previously reported by The Hays Daily News, Barrick told Inside Higher Ed that university administrators asked staff in August to develop plans to substantially increase earned income over five years. “We were working on those plans when the timeline shifted,” he said. “In September, they told us they’re closing the museum.”
Grospitch reiterated Tuesday that budget constraints drove the university’s decisions.
“As President Mason shared in her recent message to campus, the difficult decisions regarding Sternberg were never about the value or importance of the museum, but about the university’s budget constraints,” he wrote.
The response did not specify the university’s future funding contribution.
In its Nov. 3, 1:02 p.m. time-stamped update, the FHSU Foundation’s Save Sternberg page displayed $926,145—92.6% of its $1 million goal—with $73,855 remaining. The tracker includes matching support but excludes verbal commitments, unlike Mason’s Oct. 26 total.
The Save the Sternberg Museum of Natural History group, a community education and fundraising-support effort described in Hays Post reporting, emphasizes the campaign’s origins.
“To our knowledge, the FHSU Foundation found out in real time they would need to launch the Save Sternberg page (after reading Dr. Mason’s September 28 letter to the community),” Hannah Horinek-Bealby, a member of the Save the Sternberg Museum of Natural History group, said.
“They have been building the page throughout the month and have been working closely with Dr. Barrick to fundraise,” Horinek-Bealby said. She described the FHSU Foundation’s efforts as a response to Mason’s closure announcement, rather than an initiative coordinated with that announcement. That is the group’s account, not an independently established foundation chronology.
Collections: What is being evaluated, and whose expertise guides decisions?
Mason describes working groups evaluating collections, live animals, public operations and camps. Staff describe curators’ assignments as assessing collections’ funding and sustainable-care needs, not simply inventorying specimens.
Previous reporting explains the stakes: specimens preserve research evidence, and questions about sales, relocation and access remain consequential.
“There are no ‘dispensable specimens’ in the permanent collections at the Sternberg Museum,” adjunct curator Kenshu Shimada wrote Oct. 27, seeking a permanent no-sale commitment. FHSU previously said no sale was authorized; Monday’s email does not address that broader request.
“The university recognizes the important contributions of Sternberg’s collections to research, teaching, and scholarship,” Grospitch wrote Tuesday. His response did not address Shimada’s request for a permanent no-sale commitment.
Staff say curators could recruit university colleagues, but requests to Dean Mark Arant for student help assessing cataloging backlogs remain unanswered. They report assistance offers from Kansas State University and University of Kansas botany experts. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology offered scientific, legal and technical expertise; its Oct. 29 statement reported no further response after acknowledgment.
Staff report no further meeting with Provost Jill Arensdorf and Arant since the meeting they date to Oct. 8, although both reportedly toured collections afterward. FHSU confirmed the meeting, not its date or contents.
Asked about the administrators’ engagement, Grospitch wrote: “Provost Arensdorf and Dean Arant have engaged with the Sternberg Museum through the university’s working committee, including opportunities to learn more about the museum operations and its collections.”
The response did not specify whether those opportunities included the collections tour staff described or another meeting with staff.
Staff also say Mason declined collections-tour invitations. Grospitch confirmed that she has not personally toured the collections in recent weeks, while citing earlier visits and ongoing updates.
“President Mason has not personally toured the collections in recent weeks but has toured the museum many times through the years and has been receiving regular updates from the working committee,” he wrote.
That response did not address whether Mason received or declined the invitations staff described.
Partners: How does Mason’s group connect with museum planning?
“I am leading a group of community partners focused on forging external partnerships and long-term opportunities to support the Sternberg Museum,” Mason wrote. Earlier messages also referenced partners, but membership and connections to museum working groups remain unexplained. Staff ask why Barrick has not been invited.
The Hays Daily News questioned FHSU, Ellis County, Hays and The Chamber Tuesday.
“I have not been approached by FHSU regarding the Sternberg Museum,” Ellis County Administrator Darin Myers wrote. “None of the commissioners have mentioned anything to me either.”
“My office is not part of the group,” Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty wrote. “I believe individual Commissioners are and have been in conversation with university leadership as well as other community leaders about Sternberg. I do not have details on those discussions.”
Sarah Wasinger replied for The Chamber: “We are not a part of that formal group and have communicated our willingness to support efforts where appropriate for future efforts.”
The responses do not rule out participation by individual elected officials or other organizations but leave the group’s membership unclear. The Hays Daily Nws asked Grospitch who is participating and whether the group has met or scheduled meetings.
“Our focus now is on working collaboratively with museum faculty and staff, community partners, and other stakeholders to develop a responsible, sustainable path forward for the museum’s collections, operations, and academic mission,” Grospitch wrote.
Mason expects spring-hours recommendations by early December and further recommendations by the academic year’s end. Staff question whether shorter hours justify restricting school trips or busy weekends—another test of how their expertise shapes Sternberg’s future.
