The Rose Art Museum will not close, but "will be more fully integrated into the University's central educational mission," University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Brandeis community last Thursday.The e-mail clarifies Reinharz's Jan. 26 e-mail and the accompanying University press release, which both announced that the Board of Trustees had "voted to close" the Rose Art Museum.

"The Rose is going to remain open," Reinharz explained at a forum for students last Thursday. "How it will function is up to the faculty," he said. According to Reinharz, "A faculty committee . is working right now in thinking what and how the Rose should function on this campus." The current committee, whose members were elected by the Faculty Senate, includes Profs. Eric Hill (THA), Nancy Scott (FA) and Jerry Samet (PHIL).

According to Hill, "[The committee's] role is to ask three questions: What are the costs and benefits of keeping the Rose open? . Are there any compromise solutions in between? And what is the damage that has already been done and might further be done going forward as we try not to bungle this up any more than we already have?" Prof. John Plotz (ENG) said in an e-mail to the Justice, "Many on the faculty feel the committee is too small and has too short a time to complete its work." The committee will give its first report on the results of its discussions this Thursday to the Faculty Senate.

Referring to the way the Rose announcement, which was met with an outcry among students, faculty and members of the outside artistic community, was communicated, Reinharz wrote in the e-mail, "To quote President Obama, 'I screwed up.'"

The original Board of Trustees resolution stated that "the University administration is authorized to take the necessary steps to transition the University's Rose Art Museum to a teaching center and exhibition gallery," including, "to the extent appropriate, . an orderly sale or other disposition of works from the University's collection." The resolution also specified, "The proceeds shall be used to help address the University's needs and preserve the University's assets during this period of economic challenge."

At the open forum last Thursday, Reinharz reiterated that the intention was never to sell "all the art" in the Rose's collection but said that "if and when we need to sell, we have the option of selling." The Jan. 26 press release stated, "After necessary legal approvals and working with a top auction house, the University will publicly sell the art collection." The museum's collection currently comprises 7,180 works.

"The press release misrepresented what the board actually said, as did the initial statements," Reinharz told the Justice at a press conference held last Thursday for campus media.

Chairman of the Rose Board of Overseers Jonathan Lee said about the Feb. 5 e-mail, "I think this is what you call spin doctoring. [The administration is] not going to run the Rose Art Museum as the Rose Art Museum. . They still intend to sell the art, and they still intend to kill the museum," he said.

Lee told the Justice last week that he will meet with members of the attorney general's office to pursue legal blocks of the closing of the Rose Art Museum and sale of its artwork. According to Lee, looking into donor restrictions and remaining Rose building and staff salary endowments could halt or delay the museum closing and art sales. He said this week that "I don't think anything changes" about his plans to try to halt the repurposing of the museum.

Lee also expressed doubt about general University transparency. "There's the open model [of a university], and then there's the closed model. Brandeis is the old-fashioned closed model, where one man runs everything," he said.

After Thursday's open forum, Student Union President Jason Gray '10 called Reinharz's Feb. 5 e-mail "a good step. I'm looking forward to see how this all proceeds from here." He later said, "I think that as far as students understanding what the University is talking about [in the Rose decision], the way that really developed is through the open forums that we had the past two weeks. I think that really gives people the opportunity to understand a decision that is made in the context of the economic situation," Gray said.

"I think [Reinharz] was great today," said Michal Pearl '11 after the open forum last Thursday. "Most importantly, he admitted to be wrong in the way that he presented the issue to begin with. . I think it's a bad time to sell art, but if it's got to go, it's got to go."

"I'm at least glad that [Reinharz] admitted he was wrong," Jessica Stearns '10 said. "He's starting to accept responsibility for the way the administration has been acting instead of just deflecting it.

-Mike Prada contributed reporting.