What’s on my mind?
Silence.
What has happened to the outcry and energy created with an announcement that the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University was closing due to the university’s financial situation?
For weeks following that announcement, conversations on the street, Facebook and news articles were filled with concern, questions about university leadership, declarations of support and financial contributions.
The Schmidt Foundation stepped up with a $1 million match to contributions made before Dec. 31 to support Sternberg until a solution could be found.
The FHSU Foundation put their entire staff to work finding contributions to meet the $1 million match. Thousands of individuals and businesses have contributed more than $600,000 to the cause. (See the FHSU Foundation website for a daily update on dollars raised.)
The Sternberg Museum, along with the Ellis County Historical Society and the Rush County Historical Society have organized a Roar and Raise for the Future Benefit Auction scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20 at the Ellis County Historical Museum, 100 W. Seventh in Hays.
The community has stepped up.
The university has been silent. The Sternberg Museum has not been in the news and the community/university committee to save it has not been named.
No news is not good news. Leadership from that committee should be reporting weekly the results of fundraising and progress in developing a strategy to keep the Sternberg Museum open. The city, and university at large deserve to know what is going on. Silence is not golden; it is frustrating and foments doubt and lack of trust in leadership.
For the sake of the Sternberg and perhaps the university administration, President Mason and her team need to step up. No one has the skills to do everything. In my, not so humble opinion, good leadership ‘hires to their weaknesses’ and steps aside to get the job done when necessary.
— Cathy Van Doren, Hays
FHSU class of 1970