City Council plans to hold at least one hearing on the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University museum, which is set to shut its doors to the public at the end of the month.

Lawmakers passed a resolution to investigate the decision on Thursday, Council’s first day back from summer recess. The legislation specifically authorizes a committee to subpoena witnesses and documents.

“As a scientist by training, I cannot allow this announcement about the academy to be made without Drexel providing all of Philadelphia with more information on how we got to this sorry state,” at-large Councilmember Nina Ahmad said.

Drexel and ANS leaders announced the abrupt closure Sept. 1; the museum’s final day open will be Sunday, Sept. 27.

In addition to seeking answers, the hearing will help “establish a public record of alternatives,” according to the text of the resolution. Ahmad has spoken about petitioning Orphans’ Court or pursuing emergency capital grants for repairs to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway building.

She co-introduced the measure with Councilmember Jeffrey Young Jr., whose 5th District covers the Parkway museums.

“This is the only place that our children have in the city to go to learn about the natural sciences. This is the only place we can go see a T-Rex,” Young said. “As a father, I don’t feel right allowing that place to just disappear.”

The date of the hearing, which will be before Council’s Committee on Legislative Oversight, has not been finalized as of Sunday.

ANS supporters showed up to Thursday’s session in full force. An organized effort to save the museum has formed in recent weeks. Rallies have been held outside the institution, and a petition has garnered more than 8,400 signatures.

“Please save the academy,” Marie Gilbert, a former academy employee, told lawmakers. “Audit Drexel. Something stinky’s going on.”

Drexel President Antonio Merlo and Suzanna Biemiller, chair of ANS’s Board of Trustees, have stated that rising costs associated with operating the museum are threatening the academy’s ability to serve as a hub for researchers and safeguard its collection of 19 million specimens.

Merlo and Biemiller, in a Sept. 1 message, said that their focus for the near future would be “the stewardship of the Academy’s collections and their use to advance scientific knowledge.”

ANS, which opened its museum 198 years ago, has been affiliated with Drexel since 2011.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has tapped former U.S. ambassador to Canada and Comcast executive David L. Cohen to facilitate a new arrangement between the university and the academy. Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration has loaned a top deputy, Trish Wellenbach, to ANS to serve as an interim senior advisor.

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Keywords

Academy of Natural Sciences,

Drexel University,

Philadelphia City Council,

Nina Ahmad,

Jeffrey Young Jr.,

Philadelphia museums