Tuesday, September 22, 2009

WE DEMAND THAT YOU NOT CLOSE THE MUSEUM YOU ARE NOT CLOSING

The Future of the Rose Committee has issued its final report. The report is here. Boston Globe story here. People seem disappointed that the report takes no position on the potential sale of art, but, in its interim report this spring, the committee made it very clear that it would offer no opinion on that issue.

One of the report's two "central recommendations" is that "the Rose Art Museum remain the Rose Art Museum. It should remain what it is and what it has been since its beginnings: a university art museum open to the public." It recommends that the university "communicate as loudly, clearly, as often, and in as many ways as possible that the Rose is not closing" (emphasis added). It says "the Provost's interim staffing announcement on April 17, 2009 affirmed the University's intention to maintain the Rose as a museum open to the public" and that "other University announcements have reaffirmed this commitment" (my emphases again).

Not everyone's gotten the message, however. As we've seen, there is a lawsuit out there seeking an "Order declaring that Brandeis may not close the Rose Art Museum."