The End of the Rose

It is with great sadness that we mark the closing of Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum and the general cuts in education that this loss symbolizes. The Rose, home to Brandeis’s 6,000-object art collection, was approaching its 50th anniversary, but may not make it to that milestone. On Monday, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the museum and use its collection—worth an estimated $350 million—in order to generate funds to cover the University’s looming multimillion-dollar budget deficit. While the plan has been met with considerable opposition from several long-time donors to the Rose and from student protests, the University is moving forward undeterred. Brandeis’s president recently said that some of the art may be saved from liquidation, but that there was no doubt that the facility would be dismantled.

The Rose Art Museum currently welcomes 13,000 to 15,000 people through its doors per year, and provides opportunities for students, teachers and the public to see and learn about the arts. Through student internships, class visits and artist talks, the Rose fulfills its mission statement to “stimulate public awareness and disseminate knowledge of modern and contemporary art to enrich educational, cultural, and artistic communities regionally, nationally and internationally.” According to the chair of the Rose’s board of overseers, the collection is Brandeis University’s largest asset. Unfortunately that may have led to its ultimate downfall as the University searched for answers after seeing its endowment fall from $712 million to $549 million.

Brandeis's decision to sell its art collection in order to make ends meet is all too indicative of the larger problems facing universities as donations dry up and endowments plummet in this dismal economic climate. On average, university endowments have dropped 23 percent in only five months.

It is sad to see the Rose, and all the other programs that may follow it, disappear as universities seek new ways of generating funds. oArt is an essential component of the breadth of the liberal arts education and should not be sacrificed casually. While it may sound sentimental, difficult times are when we need art the most. We hope that universities in the surrounding area can do their best to offer Brandeis students access to art resources. Universities should band together to weather the storm of trying financial times.