Brandeis University’s faculty is striking back. Without commenting on the university’s potential plans to sell art from the Rose Museum, a report soon to be issued by a faculty committee strongly reminds the university of its teaching mission, the Boston Globe says. That mission, however, is somewhat at odds with the Rose’s original orientation.
The report calls on the university to immediately expand staffing at the Rose, hiring a full-time museum director who would also teach courses, as well as an education director so the visual arts could be better integrated into Brandeis’s academic departments. […]
And despite concerns that the new direction would compromise the museum’s prestige and professional standards, the report recommends that the Rose shift its priorities away from the larger art world and back toward the university’s students and faculty to better fulfill Brandeis’s educational mission.
For example, more effort should be put toward making the faculty aware of the extent of the Rose’s holdings and the possibility of teaching entire courses in the museum. Faculty should be invited to play a role in curating exhibits so they will be more likely to use the museum in their teaching. The museum should also reconsider its practice of exhibiting exclusively modern and contemporary art and accommodate specific curricular needs or artistic opportunities relevant to the Brandeis community, the report said.
Report Urges Brandeis to Keep the Rose Open to the Public (Boston Globe)