These days, finding a balance between academics and economics is crucial.
That balance motivated the museum's administrators to discontinue 18 research specialist positions at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology last November, effective May 31.
But more than 2,000 people in a variety of fields around the world signed an online petition, posted Jan. 7, claiming the museum went too far.
The museum defends its restructuring as necessary to maintain fiscal stability and its missions.
Gunder Varinlioglu, who received her Ph.D. in Art and Archaeology in the Mediterranean World from Penn, created the petition with Omur Harmansah, professor of Archaeology and Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies at Brown University.
"There was such a public outcry over the issue that it had to be brought together," said Varinlioglu.
Several archaeology blogs and letters circulating in academic listservs have also questioned the museum's actions.
The museum "has always been about research and not really exhibits, and that's what differentiates it from others," said Varinlioglu, who said the move made the museum seem "like a business rather than the non-profit it is supposed to be."
Varinlioglu also criticized the lack of transparency behind the museum's actions, since its finances are not public.
"We don't know if they tried to do any fundraising or approached any alumni or exhausted all their resources," she said.
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