The final report of the Committee on the Future of the Rose Art Museum, released by the University at 4:49 a.m. today, recommends that the museum remain open as a public art museum and that the University better integrate the Rose into its educational goals.The report states that the committee did not comment on the potential sale of art to relieve the University's budget because "this is a decision that lies solely with Brandeis's Board of Trustees."

"Our recommendation is that if ever a sale of artwork from the collection is undertaken, for any purpose, it be done only after a consultative process involving appropriate professional and community input," the report states.

"I hope the report will be widely read and considered with care. I believe the report is especially useful with respect to the emphasis it places on more fully integrating the Rose Art Museum into the overall educational mission of the University," University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

The fiscal 2010 Rose operating budget has been increased by $200,000 by Reinharz to support the implementation of the committee's report, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Reinharz consulted with University administrators over the summer on whether to grant this additional money to the museum from the University's general funding, French wrote.

The committee was created March 3 by Provost Marty Krauss as an advisory body to the University administration and Board of Trustees with regard to how the museum can play a role in the educational and cultural mission of the University, according to the committee Web site. Committee members include Fine Arts faculty, a member of the Board of Trustees, a Rose Board of Overseers member and two students.

In a campuswide e-mail sent Jan. 26, University President Jehuda Reinharz announced that the Board of Trustees had voted to close the museum and that its art collection would be auctioned off to support the University. However, in a Feb. 5 e-mail to the community, Reinharz clarified that the Rose would not close but "will be more fully integrated into the University's central educational mission" and that art from the collection may be sold only if necessary.

"[The committee members were] explicitly told in their charge that whether or not the University proceeds now or in the future with the sale of art would be a decision made by the Board of Trustees, so it wasn't an issue for [a] faculty, student, staff committee to opine upon," Krauss told the Justice in an interview.

Committee chair Prof. Jerry Samet (PHIL) added in an interview with the Justice that the committee did not address the potential sale of art because it did not know what possible alternatives would be.

"To the extent we couldn't think seriously about the alternatives and because we had no idea what they were, we just figured we need to leave that issue aside," Samet said.

The Rose Art Museum is recommended by the committee to exhibit its permanent collection of approximately 7,500 pieces of art in "the near term" and later showcase the "major representatives of the permanent collection" on a rational basis if necessary.

"We recommend that further consideration be given to the Rose's practice of exhibiting exclusively modern and contemporary art," the report suggests.

Drawing on the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's report, which outlines the necessary steps for maximizing University museums as educational resources, the committee recommends that the Rose should encourage University faculty to teach courses in the museum. As part of this faculty outreach initiative, the report states, the Rose should also encourage class visits to exhibitions and the use of exhibited artwork as the subjects of written assignments.

ED 158b: "Looking with the Learner: Practice and Inquiry" is the only course that has taken place exclusively in the museum.

Future directors or curators of the Rose Art Museum should be required to regularly teach courses related to museum studies and exhibited artwork, the report suggests.

The report comments on the "uncertain status" of the Rose Board of Overseers and contains the recommendation that the "Board be reconstituted and reengaged to support the integration of the museum into the broader educational mission of the University." The reconstituted group should be appointed by the University president and include representatives from Trustee members, alumni, Rose director, outside museum professionals and students, according to the report.

Furthermore, a faculty advisory committee appointed either by the president or the provost should be created to integrate the academic goals of the University with those of the museum. A student advisory committee should also be formed to formally increase student participation.

"I found the report very encouraging. It shows that a group of reasonable people working to solve problems [is] not making it worse, keeping in mind the broader interest of Brandeis, its educational mission," said Thomas Reilly, the University's outside counsel for the Rose lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by Rose overseers Jonathan Lee, Meryl Rose and Lois Foster July 27, seeks to maintain the Rose collection by stating that the University's decision to close it and sell its art would violate the museum's ethical codes. The Justice could not reach a representative of the plaintiffs for comment in time for publication.

In an e-mail statement to the Justice, member of the Rose family Fred Hopengarten wrote that "it is apparent that the administration hid from the Committee some additional promises made to the Roses, and perhaps other donors as well" aside from the stated obligations to the donors. Hopengarten also wrote, "The Committee never dealt with the fact that failing to honor commitments is a failure of honor, and impairs relationships with donors."

"Bear in mind that Brandeis did not want to go down the route of a lawsuit trying to work within the broader community to solve this problem and not make it worse I was very encouraged by the content of the report and the integration into the broader University. . The quality/excellence of education comes first," Reilly said.

"My personal hope is that the report will help end some of the polarization that has characterized much of the discourse about the Rose, and begin to unite our community in imagining what is best for Brandeis, the museum, and the art itself. I don't believe they are exclusive," wrote committee member and Director of the Office of the Arts Scott Edmiston in an e-mail to the Justice.


- Alana Abramson, Hannah L. Kirsch and Harry Shipps contributed reporting