Brandeis students organize events to save Rose Art Museum

Angered over Brandeis University's plans to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its collection, students are rallying to reverse the decision.

Student Rebeccah Ulm said she expects more than 150 people to attend a sit-in outside the museum, set for tomorrow from 1 to 5 p.m.

"I and many students and faculty are deeply concerned and upset by the decision to close the Rose," Ulm said. "This is the latest and most appalling in a series of actions by the administration that have been put in effect without student input. This time, the faculty wasn't even consulted."

University trustees voted unanimously Monday to close the Rose by late summer and sell its international collection to survive the troubled economy.

"The fact that the Board of Trustees made this decision without consulting the broader Brandeis community is reprehensible," said Ulm. "We are organizing in an effort to bring students, faculty, and members of the community outside Brandeis together to make our discontent clear ... we are not prepared to complacently accept this decision."

On Friday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., another group of students plans to project images of more than 6,000 art objects from the museum inside the Shapiro Student Center to promote discussion about the planned closing decision.

In an e-mail, event organizer Brian Friedberg said the discussion will focus on reproduced images from the permanent collection and a conversation on how the closing of the museum will impact students.

A forlorn Michael Rush, museum director, yesterday stood among the works of Andy Warhol and Hans Hofmann, reflecting on the trustees' decision.

"I was shocked. It was stunning. I'm still in shock. This is just (Monday) afternoon this happened," Rush said. "We were completely unprepared for this."

In an interview Monday, college spokesman Dennis Nealon said trustees made "a hard decision" to ensure Brandeis could continue to fulfill its educational mission.

"The bottom line is that the students, the faculty and core academic mission come first. (Trustees) had to look at the college's assets and came to a decision to maintain that fundamental commitment to teaching."

Nealon described plans to close the facility as "fairly recent" and said "we know the collection is valuable but we're not putting a price on it in this market."

The planned sale must be vetted by Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, which reviews the actions of certain nonprofits.

"Brandeis University notified us Monday afternoon of their interest in selling art that the university owns," AG spokesman Melissa Karpinsky said in a statement. "We have not yet offered an opinion on any aspect of these proposed sales. We will review Brandeis' plan as it evolves, however at this time, we expect this to be a lengthy process."

In a telephone interview last night, AG spokeswoman Emily LaGrassa said the office will review review wills and agreements made between the university and donors to determine if the sale of the artwork violates any of the agreements.

If there are any restrictions, a piece cannot be sold without permission from the donor, she said. If there is no living donor or no heir to get clearance, the university would need approval from the state Supreme Judicial Court, she said.

Brandeis student and museum employee Ernest Paulin said selling the collection isn't a smart move with the current economic climate.

"I think what they are doing is a pragmatic solution," said Paulin, 22. "I think selling off the collection at this time is minimizing the money that can be made from this collection."

Paulin said although the collection is impressive, museum attendance has not been since he began working there in May.

"I would have to agree with university President Jehuda Reinharz on some counts. I can recall him saying it doesn't get a lot of foot traffic," he said. "And as an employee I can say that is true."

Nealon said Brandeis leaders had "been looking at everything over the last several months" to address the recession's impact on the university.

Nealon said the Rose Museum, which opened in 1961, will eventually be used for a fine arts teaching center.

"I'm a fan of art history so it's easy to know that there's some bona fide treasures here," said Paulin. "So little of the permanent collection was ever on display it kind of boggles the mind."

Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com.