Letter to the Editor | Sacrificing art at Brandeis is short-term gain, long-term loss

The horrific state of the world economy has had a negative affect on every professional sphere, including academia. Like Vassar, educational institutions across the country are trying to cut costs and figure out ways to function within limited budgets. The question of what is essential and what can be sacrificed, particularly in regard to educational budget plans, has always been a heated topic of debate. This week, taking a definitive stand in that debate, the Board of Trustees of Brandeis University made a sudden decision to close the school's Rose Art Museum and sell the $350 million collection to help pay the bills.

This has set off quite a spark in the art world amongst institutions interested in the 6,000-plus works in the collection, but it has created fervor in academic circles, as well. What message does a university send, one which calls itself a liberal arts institution "dedicated to the advancement of the humanities, arts and social, natural and physical sciences," when it decides to shut down its art museum and sell the collection for profit? Art is dispensable, trite—a liquid asset.

Art is a profitable commodity and always has been. But this is not an art auction at Sotheby's or Christie's. Brandeis is a reputable academic institution, and its art museum, much like Vassar's Frances Lehman Loeb Art Gallery, is an indispensable resource for students, professors and members of the community. Furthermore, the Rose Art Museum has always supported itself by raising its own funds independently of the University. It prides itself on works of art from private donors, to many of whom the plan to close the museum was seen as a bald-faced insult.

While the university's president, Jehuda Reinharz, firmly denies any diminished commitment to the arts, the closing of the museum is devastating to Brandeis' art and art history departments. As an art history student myself, I find it appalling that a school could make the decision to close its museum without any regard for those who actively take advantage of the resource.

Neither the museum's director, nor its board of overseers, nor the art and art history departments of the University, were made aware of the decision until one hour before the press release went out.

The Trustees are robbing the Brandeis community of a significant resource, and they're tainting the University's reputation in the process. Instead of cutting costs in multiple areas of the University, the trustees are striking a blow solely to the visual arts, compromising Brandeis' reputation and credibility as a higher learning institution. Even if the Trustees were to re-open the museum in the future, under better economic conditions, who would donate to it, now that its reputation has been sacrificed?

The imperativeness of appreciating the resources available to us as students of the liberal arts is reinforced by Brandeis' abrupt decision to close its art museum. Being able to study in an environment that values cultural exploration and resources is a luxury, not an entitlement. In a declining economy, nothing is certain and nothing can be taken for granted—least of all art.

— Gabrielle Kotkov '10