Spring Break
Students march in effort to revive the Rose Art Museum
by Jillian Wagner
News Editor
News | 2/10/09
Posted online at 5:34 AM EST on 2/10/09
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Students gathered at the Rabb steps and made their way across campus to the Rose Art Museum chanting, "Don't Close the Rose." They held up signs and carried roses, which they then placed outside the library and the Bernstein-Marcus administrative building, along with a reproduction of a piece of artwork from the museum's collection, which they left on the windowsill next to the main entrance of the building. "We're putting up a shrine at the administrative building so that the administration knows how many students came here tonight to show their support for the Rose Art Museum," explained Zev Rowlett '11, one of the organizers of the event.
The procession was sponsored by Art Attack, an arts club on campus. It was held despite an e-mail sent to students and faculty by University President Jehuda Reinharz earlier that day, in which Reinharz wrote, "The Museum will remain open, but in accordance with the Board's vote, it will be more fully integrated into the University's central educational mission."
However, according to Amy Tsao '10, a Studio Art major, some of the plans for the procession changed after Reinharz's e-mail last Thursday.
"We had a casket made and we had a funeral planned, but obviously we had to change our plans a little bit," Tsao said. "In the e-mail, [Reinharz] said that the Rose would remain open, so it's not really a death anymore, … so we didn't think it appropriate. This is meant to be more of a resurrection and just a signal that we do care," she explained.
"Right now I'm just hoping to show that the students in the Brandeis community don't think closing the Rose is an option," Emily Leifer '11, who organized the procession, said. "While earlier today [Reinharz] said that he never said that he was going to close the Rose, he has talked about making it into an educational facility, … not [a] public museum." Leifer said Reinharz's announcement is just another way of saying that they're going to close the museum. "I'm not OK with that," she said.
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