Monday, September 02, 2013

Deviating

Lee Rosenbaum continues to be outraged by the AAMD's lack of outrage at the Pennsylvania Academy's Hopper sale.  She's figured out that the "AAMD will censure deaccessions only when sale proceeds are not used exclusively for acquisitions. Any other deviations from responsible stewardship, no matter how egregious, get a pass."

But what she doesn't see is that the AAMD has no criteria by which to judge a sale a "deviation from responsible stewardship" other than by reference to how the proceeds will be used.  That is, as far as the AAMD is concerned, if the proceeds are "used exclusively for acquisitions," then -- by definition -- it's an example of responsible stewardship.  If the proceeds are used for anything else, then -- again by definition -- it's always a deviation from responsible stewardship (and always an "egregious" one at that).

If you like those "ethics," you can have them.  I'll pass.