"History will judge Brandeis on this decision."
As Rose Art Museum director Michael Rush yesterday lamented the university's decision to sell off its art collection, a crowd of over 100 supporters fell silent.
"As essential as the Rose is to the Brandeis community, it is bigger than Brandeis. The university has made a big, big mistake," Rush continued at the museum's gallery.
Long considered a jewel in the Brandeis crown, the Rose Art Museum was flooded with supporters yesterday to protest the trustees' decision to close the museum and sell the entire collection.
Rush's comments to the crowd kicked off a string of speeches by students, faculty and museum supporters.
Sommerville resident and Brandeis alumna Carolyn Mellin, Class of 1980, said she read about yesterday's sit-in in the newspaper. As a student, she recalled, she often went to the museum to learn about up-and-coming artists.
"This is a unique collection that is known around the entire country and the world," she said. "Selling it is a crime against the arts."
Rebeccah Ulm, a sit-in organizer, said she was appalled with the manner in which the decision to close the museum was made.
"We weren't consulted in the first place," the Brandeis sophomore said. "This open mic is so that (university President) Jehuda (Reinharz) can hear that opinions matter and that what we think should be considered."
Politics and art history major Julia Sfverlazzo, a senior, said she is "sad that this is my alma mater because I didn't believe this could happen here. We need to maintain our ideals even in a crisis."
At a student forum Wednesday, Reinharz answered questions about the decision to close the Rose this summer.
"We are not abandoning the arts," he said.
Ulm told the audience yesterday that she did not believe the president.
"This decision certainly made it feel like he's abandoning us," she said.
Rush told yesterday's audience that although he was saddened by the administration's decision to close the museum, "there are no finer people to work with than (Provost) Marty Kraus and Jehudah Reinharz."
Mostly, the sentiment of the crowd gathered yesterday was sadness, not anger.
As the speakers died down, the crowd thinned out into the galleries of the Rose in an effort to pay homage to the artwork that would soon be absent from campus.
The Rose Art Museum was founded in 1961. It has over 8,000 pieces in its permanent collection with a strong focus on American art of the 1960s and 1970s, according to Brandeis' Web site. Some of the featured artists include Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol.
Rose staff member Robin Dash led students in a poster-making effort. By the end of the day over 30 posters lined the windows at the entrance of the museum.
"For sale," one read. "Call Jehuda. 781-736-3001."
