The Justice

CORRECTION APPENDED SEE BOTTOM

The Rose Art Museum, which houses a collection of modern and contemporary masterpieces, will close in the summer of 2009 after the Board of Trustees voted unanimously yesterday to do so in the wake of the current financial crisis, according to a campuswide e-mail sent by University President Jehuda Reinharz.

The decision stunned many current and former Rose staff members, University faculty and students, all of whom did not learn of plans to close the museum until after the decision was final.

The University will publicly sell all of the art that is currently housed in the museum, according to a University press release. The building will be converted into a "fine arts teaching center with studio space and an exhibition gallery," according to the release.

"No one feels really good about closing the Rose," Executive Director of Media and Public Affairs Dennis Nealon said. "It is being done with a strict emphasis on what is best for the students who are here now and what is best for the students who are going to be coming in future generations," he added.

The Rose Art Museum opened in 1961 and currently contains a collection of over 6,000 works, almost all of which were gifts from donors; it features three exhibitions each semester.

This semester's current exhibition focuses on the work of noteworthy abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann. Some of the works assembled in the Hofmann show have never before been exhibited in a U.S. museum.

University Provost Marty Krauss said the idea to close the museum was initiated by the Board of Trustees. "Ultimately it was a decision by the Board, not the administration," she said.

She added that this was an action that the Board had been considering prior to yesterday's meeting, saying "it became a target of discussion among [the Board of Trustees]."

Prof. Steven Burg (POL), a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "It is not clear to me where the initiative for this proposal came from, but similar proposals have been made from time to time in the past, in response to similar, but far less serious economic pressures."

Faculty representative to the Board Prof. Leslie Griffith (BIOL) wrote, "Rather than impose cuts on the University that would have an adverse impact on the quality of education and the very nature of Brandeis, the board has chosen to liquidate this University asset. I am sad that this had to be done, but I think it is the right thing to do."

Rose Art Museum Director Michael Rush could not be reached for comment by press time, but the Boston Globe reported that he learned of the decision yesterday.

"That's unconscionable, I mean, utterly unconscionable," Roger Kizik, preparator at the Rose from 1977 to 2003, said of Rush learning about the news yesterday. "I would have assumed that the current director would have, you know, been apprised of this as it was unfolding within his own University. That's just a stunning thing," he said.

Krauss said the University has an arrangement with "a major art dealer that would handle the selling of this collection," but declined to elaborate.

Nealon said the process of selling the art "could take up to about a couple of years, minimum."

He added, "With the market the way it is now, we have no way of knowing right now what the value of the collection is now. It's a very valuable collection, very important collection. We'll know later as we get down the road; that's going to be part of the process, determining the exact value of the collection," he said.

Burg wrote that he was unaware of the specific University plans to sell the artwork, but wrote, "I doubt that "every piece" in the collection of about 6,000 pieces is even sellable."

The decision took many professors, as well as students and staff members who currently work at the museum, by surprise.

"I was shocked when I heard about the decision because the Rose Art Museum has been such a big part of my Brandeis experience-more than most people who may just visit it once or twice a year," Office of the Arts Director Scott Edmiston wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. 

"I recognize this is just the first step of a long, very complicated, multiyear process, and I'm trying not to jump to conclusions until we see how things unfold," he added.

Office of the Arts Program Administrator Ingrid Schorr said, "I feel a lot more strongly about this than I do about the [closing of the Linsey] pool. We'll get a swimming pool eventually, but we'll never have that collection of artwork again."

According to an e-mail sent by Beccah Ulm '11 to the Brandeis Budget Cuts Committee listserv, a sit-in at the Rose will be organized to take place Thursday at 1 p.m.

In addition, a meeting to discuss the closing of the Rose as well as concerns about administration transparency will be held in the Student Union office tonight at 8 p.m., according to an e-mail originally sent to the Union Senate listserv by Senator for the Class of 2009 Eric Alterman.

"I think [closing the museum] is a pretty terrible idea-it's just such a Brandeis staple, … a pinnacle for culture," Esther Schloss '09, a Studio Art major, said.

"The permanence of this is scary-losing the Rose Art Museum and selling all of the work is very scary for Brandeis," Hannah Richman '10, another Studio Art major, said.

"These are extraordinary times," Reinharz said in the press release. "We cannot control or fix the nation's economic problems. We can only do what we have been entrusted to do-act responsibly with the best interests of our students."

-Sarah Bayer, Shana D. Lebowitz, Miranda Neubauer and Jillian Wagner contributed reporting

Correction: The article initially referred to Ingrid Schorr as a professor in the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies Department. She is actually the Office of the Arts Program Administrator.

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