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Field Museum cutting costs, losing scientists


By Heather Gillers, Chicago Tribune reporter
July 31, 2013

Chicago's Field Museum made headlines on four continents this year after
researchers discovered a 600-year-old Chinese coin in late December on the
Kenyan island of Manda, revealing there was trade between China and East
Africa before European explorers mapped that part of the world. But the
anthropologist who co-led that expedition will soon be working at American
University in Washington, D.C. Five other tenured scientists, some with
decades of experience and others with promising careers ahead, are also
preparing to leave the Field staff this year, for a total of six of the
museum's 27 tenured curators.


The exodus follows six months of cost-cutting at the Field. The museum has
slashed millions from its research budget; merged its anthropology,
zoology, geology and botany departments; and sparked fears that it is
going ‹ in the words of a curator at Harvard's zoology museum ‹ "from
being a major research institution to being a local museum where people go
to see things." Field President Richard Lariviere has repeatedly expressed
a commitment to keeping the Field a top scientific institution. "The
Field's commitment to scientific research is steadfast," Lariviere said in
a written response to questions from the Tribune. "Cutting-edge science is
why we exist and what we share with the public in our museum." He also
said that "by restructuring, and reimagining what this institution can be,
we are confident that we are creating a sustainable plan that will
maximize our scientific impact, as well as engage a new generation of
visitors."


The Field has long shouldered a demanding double mission: serving the
public with relevant and engaging exhibits while also supporting
internationally recognized scientific research. Lariviere took over the
Field in October as it struggled to recover from a decadelong spending
campaign during which the museum completed $254 million in capital
projects but raised only $150 million to pay for them. Like many other
cultural institutions, the Field Museum took on a heavy debt load around
the turn of the millennium, a time of swelling endowments and low
borrowing costs. But the Field shouldered more financial risk than its
peers and has endured greater cutbacks, offering a window into how
ambitious building projects can stress even a well-established cultural
institution. This year, in an effort to keep the Field financially stable,
Lariviere has cut the Field's roughly $60 million operating budget by $5
million, with the cuts falling disproportionately on the research side of
the museum. The Field's four research departments ‹ anthropology, botany,
geology and zoology ‹ and the museum's conservation programs previously
had a combined budget of $18.9 million, a spokeswoman said. In merging
those entities into the newly created science and education unit, the
museum is reducing spending by $3 million, or 16 percent.


"This allows for economies of scale and greater efficiencies," spokeswoman
Nancy O'Shea said in a statement. "We have also brought our staffing more
in line with our current financial position." The now-merged departments
will lose a total of 18 positions through a combination of early
retirement packages, voluntary departures, nonrenewal of contracts and
leaving open spots unfilled, O'Shea said. Among the losses are the six
tenured curators, who are either leaving voluntarily or accepting early
retirement packages.

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