Philadelphia City Council investigating Academy of Natural Sciences closure

A legislative committee in Philadelphia City Council is investigating what went wrong with the beloved Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

The museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway shuttered its doors last month, sparking outrage. The move ended nearly two centuries of educational experience at what was the nation's oldest natural sciences museum. 

Dozens of people filled City Council chambers Monday afternoon. They've been fuming about the cultural loss.

Drexel University, which partnered with the museum in 2011, previously said the place was hit hard by post-pandemic attendance, changing interest in the museum and increasing operational costs.

City Council is threatening subpoena power to force testimony before its legislative committee. 

Members of cultural advisory groups said there were no alarm bells to warn the museum that its 19 million specimen collection was in jeopardy. Experts want the building to be shielded from redevelopment and placed on the city's historic registry. 

Councilmember Isaiah Thomas is chairing the committee and said it didn't have to end this way. 

"This was preventable," Thomas said, "and this is what angers me about this moment."

Drexel provided CBS News Philadelphia with its prepared remarks to council, writing in part: "...costs of continuing to operate the museum, while also addressing mounting capital costs, were financially prohibitive. The study explicitly recommended the closure of the Academy's public museum."

Drexel also wrote that it wants to "fundamentally transform the Academy into a more financially viable, research-focused institution...." One the university said would be in a different location.