Academy of Natural Sciences hearing ends with subpoena plans and a Nov. 16 return

City Council's Committee on Legislative Oversight spent hours Monday questioning Drexel University about the sudden closing of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum on the Parkway. The hearing is not over. The committee recessed it until Monday, Nov. 16, at 10 a.m., PhillyVoice reported. 5th District Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. said Council would issue subpoenas to compel testimony at that session, the Inquirer reported.

At stake for residents is the city's main natural history museum, which closed to the public Sept. 27, and what happens to its building and collections. Our preview covers the resolution that set up the hearing.

What happened Monday

• Who testified, and who didn't. Melissa Richman, Drexel's executive director of operations, read the university's statement. Drexel President Antonio Merlo did not attend. Richman said he had to be on campus for an accreditation site visit, according to the Inquirer. Deputy Mayor Trish Wellenbach, the administration's point person on the Academy, sent written testimony saying she was "not the appropriate person to testify," PhillyVoice reported. Young tore up a copy of it.
• Drexel's case. Richman said Drexel has given the Academy more than $49 million in direct cash over 15 years and can't keep covering $5 million to $6 million a year. She said the museum's public programs cost $7.7 million last year and brought in about $3 million, and that the building needs about $150 million in deferred maintenance, the Inquirer reported. Drexel said a two-year study funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage recommended closing the public museum.
• Figures that didn't match. Academy board chair Suzanne Biemiller put the museum's fiscal 2025 operating cost at $3.6 million, against $2.7 million in revenue, PhillyVoice reported. The Philadelphia Tribune noted that the two sets of numbers were never reconciled during the hearing.
• The endowment. Biemiller testified that Drexel told the Academy's trustees to "merge fully with Drexel or get a divorce," the Tribune reported. Under a full merger, the Academy's endowment of about $80 million, plus its building and collections, would become Drexel's assets.
• Pointed questions. Committee chair Isaiah Thomas asked Drexel's representatives to convince him "that this is not a land grab," according to PhillyVoice. 7th District Councilmember Quetcy Lozada asked why the museum mattered less to Drexel than to the public, the Inquirer reported.
• An offer still open. The William Penn Foundation has offered to cover Drexel's museum subsidy for a year while a long-term plan is worked out. Drexel has neither accepted nor rejected it, and Richman said talks are continuing, according to the Inquirer.

What our records add

• The authority. Resolution 260737 was introduced and adopted on the same day, Sept. 17, at the Council session. It authorizes subpoenas under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter. Monday's hearing came 39 days after adoption; an Oct. 7 date was canceled.
• Who signed on. Young is the primary sponsor. The co-sponsors are Nina Ahmad, Curtis Jones Jr., Lozada, Kendra Brooks, Jim Harrity, Nicolas O'Rourke and Mark Squilla. Thomas, who chairs the committee and ran the hearing, is not listed as a sponsor. Neither is vice chair Rue Landau. Committee members question witnesses whether or not they sponsored a resolution.
• The zoning bill hasn't moved. Young's Bill 260764 would add use restrictions to part of the Fifth District Overlay. The Inquirer reported in September that it would limit the Academy building to civic and institutional uses, which would make a commercial sale harder. It has been in the Committee on Rules since Sept. 24, 33 days, with no hearing. It was not on that committee's agenda for today, Oct. 27.

What's next

• Nov. 16, 10 a.m.: The hearing resumes. The date had not yet been posted to the meeting calendar in our records. Watch the committee's page.
• A task force. At-large Councilmember Nina Ahmad plans an advisory task force through the Committee on Public Health and Human Services, which she chairs, PhillyVoice reported.
• Talks. Drexel and the Academy are renegotiating their affiliation agreement, and no deal has been reached, the Inquirer reported. A coalition of museum supporters is calling for an independent interim commission to oversee the Academy.