This letter to the editor from the New York Times may shed some light on why so many people outside the art world are not upset about the Rose museum being shut down:

My wife, my two sons, several of my closest friends and I graduated from Brandeis University. We are upset that Brandeis may sell some or all of its wonderful art collection. But we would be a great deal more upset if Brandeis were to lose top faculty, allowed gifted students to drop out, ignored infrastructure problems or closed down.

In a meeting with alumni leaders in the fall, Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis, stated that he would not allow a student to drop out because his or her parents could no longer afford tuition. I thought that was a wonderful position, and it made me prouder of my university than any work by Jasper Johns or Andy Warhol ever did.

Close an Art Museum, to Save a School? (New York Times)