SALISBURY, Md. - Discourse continues between Salisbury University and the Ward Foundation after the university announced Monday that it was ending a decades-long relationship with the Ward Foundation and moving the Ward Museum to downtown Salisbury.
The Board of Directors from the Ward Foundation said the university's decision came as a surprise. The board responded to Salisbury University's concerns about its financial situation, acknowledging that the university did assume $1.6 million in debt in 2003 when the relationship began, but it also shared that the university acquired a recently built museum at the time and a decoy and art collection it says is worth several million dollars. A $2 million addition to the museum was added in 2018 and the board says 80 percent of the funding came from the Ward Foundation with the other 20 percent from the university.
The board said that, though Salisbury University has subsidized a portion of the Ward Museum's operations, the amount claimed by the university seems high and included annual payments that were pledged as part of the initial 2003 transaction that transferred ownership of the museum and collection.
In regards to last summer's air conditioning malfunction that caused artifacts to be infected with mold, the Ward Foundation said its employees have spent the past eight months cleaning and restoring a good portion of Salisbury University's collection after the school decided to not fix the air conditioning system for its building.
Before Monday's announcement from the university, the Ward Foundation said it was engaged in discussions and proposed a joint project with the university's business school to develop a plan in which the museum and its programs could transition and continue to operate financially independent of Salisbury University.
Since the announcement, which stated that the school would terminate the relationship and manage the collections on its own without Ward Foundation involvement, the foundation announced Thursday that it would vacate and cease operations at the museum as soon as practicable and give termination notices to the eight remaining foundation employees while helping them seek new employment.
Despite the ending of the formal association, the Ward Foundation said it remains committed to preserving and showcasing the decoy art form and that it stands ready to assist the school going forward if called upon to do so.
Salisbury University responded to the Ward Foundation's statement Thursday afternoon, saying it had already provided funding to the foundation in order to pay staff and cover operating costs for the museum until the end of June with plans to onboard staff from the foundation to continue to care for the collection and museum. Most recently the school said it has elected to accelerate the timeline and will offer employment to the majority of the Ward Foundation staff.
Plans to make the collection publicly accessible in the downtown Salisbury Powell Building will continue.