I have never been more embarrassed to be a part of Brandeis University than I am at this very moment. Yesterday, the Brandeis Board of Trustees unanimously voted to close the Rose Art Museum in an effort to combat the ever-deepening budget fiasco the school is facing. The Rose's precious collection of contemporary masterpieces will be thrown on the auction block in an effort to raise money to band-aid the school's budget shortfalls. The school is set to sell authentic treasures from the likes of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and others, not unlike a junkie pawning his wedding ring. The decision comes as a shock to many and as an insult to others; while the Rose may not be as profitable as any of our famed butter-substitute-generating research labs, it remains an absolutely vital component to our history, prestige and identity as a respected institution of learning and as a celebrated center of art and culture. Cashing in on one of the essential pillars of our creative legacy for the sake of minor fiscal security is an insult to the integrity of our academy and a blight on the reputation of this institution as a haven for free thought and expression.

Clearly, these are difficult times, and I openly accept that sacrifices will need to be made in order to keep Brandeis alive, but this radical decision is not simply a matter of fiscal policy or creative fundraising. Instead, this decision comes as a revelation of the bottom-line ethos that guides this school and of the essentially heartless depths to which the administration is willing to sink. The Rose's prized collection was largely acquired through gifts from patrons and art lovers; gifts not only to the Rose but also to the students of Brandeis so that they might be inspired by the works' brilliance. Those pieces purchased by the Rose were funded by similar means, through gifts to the Museum. The University's closure of the Rose, requisition and sale of its collection, and the profits it will earn are a sign of how little the University cares about art and how little it respects its students.

While President Reinharz can gaze at the Matisse in his bathroom whenever he wants, the Rose offers the rest of us at Brandeis the opportunity to see a truly world-class art museum in our own backyard. As the official Brandeis press release politely phrases it, "The decision to close the museum is part of an emerging new vision for the University aimed at streamlining it for the future." This so called vision for the future is one in which the Board of Trustees and the administration can openly rob the students of their heritage, as an institution that prides itself on the label liberal arts can abandon the arts altogether.

In making this decision, the administration is dismantling on the essential pillars of our creative legacy. When University assets gained not through investment, endowment or tuition but through gifts from patrons to a respected institution of art can be sold to the highest bidder, than the fundamentally corrupted principals of the Brandeis administration are revealed. When the going gets tough and Brandeis' single greatest bastion of art is put on a chopping block by means of isolated committee, than its time for the student body to fight back. Don't let this happen.