Check your email:
Dear members of the Brandeis community,
I am very pleased to inform you that Brandeis and the four plaintiffs involved in the Rose Art Museum litigation have reached an agreement to settle the case. As a result, their claims have been dismissed. In addition, the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General has officially terminated its review of Brandeis.
The agreement emphasizes that the Rose is and will remain a university art museum open to the public and that Brandeis has no plan to sell artwork. This position reflects the Board of Trustees’ adoption of the two key recommendations of The Future of The Rose Committee Report in March, 2010.
This obviously seems like good news. If I remember correctly, the Massachusetts Attorney General was of the opinion that Brandeis doesn’t have the legal authority to sell off Rose Artwork in the first place, and the decision still stands.
Ariel Wittenberg understands these issues the best – she’s one of (if not the) best reporter Brandeis has seen in years. I’ll do some more research and report back.
Hi Sahar,
You can read the entire settlement here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59064917/Rose-Art-Museum-Settlement-Agreement
Museums do sell artwork from time to time; professional standards hold them to sell only in order to acquire other pieces. But individual donors can set their own terms. As I recall, the AG’s office was charged with going through the many donor agreements to review whether each piece of art could be sold; could be sold to an individual or only to a museum; could leave the country; etc.
This settlement is a huge relief and we can look forward to many more years of art and artists at the Rose — starting this October, with two new exhibitions — and soon, with resumed financial support from donors and trustees, there will be even more to look forward to.