Petition Update and Call to Action: The Future of the Stone Fort Museum
Thank you. In just four months, more than 6,000 of you have signed this petition to keep the Stone Fort Museum on its original 1936 site — the location chosen by SFA’s first president, Alton Birdwell, and the building’s architect, Hal Tucker. Your support has been clear, thoughtful, and deeply encouraging.
A Call to Action
Our call to action is for each of you to email Chancellor Zerwas and the UT Board of Regents! At the end of this update is a draft letter to the UT Board of Regents. Copy the letter into your email, edit, sign at the end and send today!
The letter outlines concerns and requests that approval of the SFA Campus Master Plan be clearly separated from any authorization to relocate, sell, or otherwise remove the Stone Fort Museum, and that no action be taken regarding the museum until there has been transparent public dialogue, exploration of alternatives such as a humanities center, and full consideration of the museum’s legal and historic designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Here is where things stand.
This Thursday, February 18, 2026, SFA President Weaver will present the SFA Campus Master Plan to the University of Texas Board of Regents Academic Committee. The plan includes a statement that the “Old Stone Fort Museum will be relocated off-campus.”
It is important to understand what this means.
A vote to approve the Campus Master Plan may be presented as a vote about long-term campus planning. But in reality, approval will likely be treated as implicit authorization to proceed with relocating — or potentially disposing of — a 90-year-old Texas Centennial museum, home to collections dating back to 1901 and designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. We have also learned that in a mid-January meeting with a museum donor, President Weaver offered to sell the building along with its collections. This is a long way from President Weaver’s statement at the Master Plan Open House in September 2025: “we are absolutely and deeply committed to our history.”
This is deeply concerning. Progress does not require erasing history.
There is an alternative vision — one that preserves the Stone Fort and strengthens SFA at the same time. The university already holds important historic, scientific, and art collections used by students, faculty, and researchers across Texas and the region. A humanities center, near the proposed new science building and integrated with museum programs, could consolidate those collections, improve environmental controls, reduce long-term costs, and elevate SFA’s role as a regional leader in humanities research. This approach builds on what already makes the university distinctive. It adds value. It doesn’t erase it.
As the President's proposal moves forward, your voice matters more than ever. Reach out to alumni, friends, and community members. Contact members of the UT Board of Regents and respectfully ask that approval of the Campus Master Plan not be interpreted as approval to relocate, sell, or remove the Stone Fort Museum without transparent public dialogue and full exploration of alternatives. And, continue to share this petition.
The Stone Fort is not an obstacle to progress. It is part of SFA’s identity — and its future.
We will continue to keep you informed. Thank you for standing with history!
Below is the draft letter or use the Google Docs link. Copy the letter into your email, edit, sign at the end and send today!
Draft letter to Board of Regents
___________________
Chancellor John M. Zerwas, MD jzerwas@utsystem.edu
UT Board of Regents bor@utsystem.edu
- Kevin P. Eltife
- Chairman
- Janiece Longoria, Vice Chairman
- James C. "Rad" Weaver, Vice Chairman
Academic Affairs Committee
- Jodie Lee Jiles, Chairman
- Christina Melton Crain
- Robert P. Gauntt
- Janiece Longoria
- Nolan Perez, M.D.
- Stuart W. Stedman
Facilities Planning and Construction Committee
- Robert P. Gauntt, Chairman
- Christina Melton Crain
- Nolan Perez, M.D.
- Stuart W. Stedman
- Kelcy L. Warren
- James C. "Rad" Weaver
To Chancellor Zerwas, Chairman Eltife and Members of the University of Texas Board of Regents Committees:
Thank you for the time and care you give to guiding our public universities. We write to you with deep respect for your stewardship of public higher education in Texas and with profound concern regarding the future of the Stone Fort Museum at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Over the past four months, more than 6,000 people have voiced support for keeping the Stone Fort Museum on its original 1936 site. That site was chosen by SFA’s first president, Alton Birdwell, and by the building’s architect, Hal Tucker. The strength and speed of this response reflects not nostalgia, but conviction: the Stone Fort is a cornerstone of our shared academic and cultural heritage.
As you consider the SFA Campus Master Plan, we ask you to look carefully at what is — and is not — being decided.
The plan states that the “Old Stone Fort Museum will be relocated off-campus,” and its current location would be replaced by a wing extending from a proposed new science building. A vote to approve the Campus Master Plan may seem like a vote about long-term campus growth. But in practice, it will be interpreted — and used — as approval to move a 90-year-old Texas Centennial museum, home to collections dating back to 1901 and designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
That is no small matter.
In mid-January, in a meeting with a museum donor, President Weaver acknowledged that the Master Plan map is only a preliminary rendering and the museum could be accommodated within the plan but would be moved to a ‘better’ place. Pressed for a reply to, 'What is better?,’ the President had no answer other than, ‘not on campus.’ And, in the same meeting, President Weaver described the possibility of the ‘sale’ of the Stone Fort Museum and its collections. That language alone should give pause.
There is another path forward.
There is an alternative vision that has been discussed for years — one that preserves the Stone Fort and strengthens SFA at the same time. The university already holds important historic, scientific, and art collections used by students, faculty, and researchers across Texas and the region. Right now, those collections are scattered across campus, making preservation more complicated and more expensive.
A humanities center near the proposed new science building integrated with museum programs could consolidate those collections, improve environmental controls, reduce long-term costs, and elevate SFA’s role as a regional leader in humanities research. This approach builds on what already makes the university distinctive. It adds value. It doesn’t erase it.
It’s also worth noting that during the year-long master planning process, an interactive map invited participants to identify favorite spaces and share ideas. Feedback about the Stone Fort was overwhelmingly positive. Many suggested incorporating it into a humanities center. The community was not asking for subtraction — it was asking for integration.
At the Campus Master Plan Open House on September 9, 2025, many attendees came with one question: ‘Where is the Stone Fort?’ Its absence from the draft map had not gone unnoticed.
In his closing remarks, President Weaver said SFA is, “absolutely and deeply committed to our history” and that the Stone Fort would be “carefully relocated” and that opportunities for input would be provided. No questions were taken from the audience that evening. Since then, there have been no public forums or formal discussions. Conversation has been left largely to social media, where speculation and uncertainty thrive in the absence of transparency.
President Weaver arrived at SFA in May 2024. By May 2025, he had advanced a narrative that the museum stands in the way of progress and requires relocation. Yet he has acknowledged that he has never visited the Stone Fort. Most troubling is the contrast between public assurances and private conversations.
Members of the Board, this decision is bigger than a building footprint. It speaks to donor trust. It speaks to transparency. It speaks to whether historic designation and community engagement truly matter in practice.
We respectfully ask that approval of the Campus Master Plan be clearly separated from any authorization to relocate, sell, or otherwise remove the Stone Fort Museum. We further ask that no action be taken regarding the museum until there has been transparent public dialogue, exploration of alternatives such as a humanities center, and full consideration of the museum’s legal and historic designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
The Stone Fort Museum is not an obstacle to progress. It is proof of it.
With gratitude for your service and careful consideration.