The Justice

Media Credit: David Sheppard-Brick Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH) describes objections at a recent town hall meeting

The April 17 announcement that the Rose Art Museum will reopen July 22 and will exhibit part of its permanent collection in order to allow the Committee on the Future of the Rose more time to deliberate was a turning point in the Rose debacle because it significantly elevated the doubt of many invested in the Rose story with regard to the committee and its lack of influence over the museum's artwork collection.

Prior to the April 17 announcement, many were willing to wait for the Committee on the Future of the Rose's report. Now, however, as a result of the announcement and the suspicions that have resulted from it, those same people who may have been willing to wait now imply that the committee was never given a fair chance to begin with and has been set up to fail from the start.

"I personally don't recognize you as a legitimate committee," Rose Art Director Michael Rush said to committee members at the Future of the Rose Committee Town Hall Meeting last week. "The mantra about the collection is that it is in the hands of the Board of Trustees. You are the future of the Rose but can't discuss the collection of the Rose. How does that give you validity if you cannot discuss the future of the museum?"

The text of Krauss' e-mail read: "In order to allow its members sufficient time for careful exploration, analysis, and deliberation, the Committee for the Future of the Rose requested that I clarify the plans the University has made for staffing and programming at the Rose following June 30, 2009."

The announcement has generated a stir in the community. While the announcement explicitly says that the committee requested that Krauss clarify the University's staffing and programming plans, Jonathan Lee, chair of the Rose Art Museum board of overseers, sent an e-mail that was posted on a blog on Time magazine's Web site alleging that the office of the Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was the impetus behind the announcement.

In response to Lee's e-mail to the Board, Krauss said, "There has been a lot of misinformation going around, which is unfortunate, but I'm not in a position to counter it right now."

Continued...

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