Brandeis administrators are currently in talks with international auction house Sotheby's to explore methods of garnering revenue from the Rose Art Museum that do not include the sale of artwork, according to a May 27 University press release.The press release explains that these talks are in the formative stages and that "President [Jehuda] Reinharz said it is premature to say what kind of agreements might be negotiated, what the time frame may be, what parties might be interested, what art might be included or how much revenue any agreement might generate."

"After discussing the issue over the last year, Brandeis has decided it's time to take the next step and seriously explore what options there are for non-sale alternatives," wrote Senior Vice President for Communications Andrew Gully in an e-mail to the Justice.

In an interview with the Justice, Reinharz said that he was unsure what the methods of gaining revenue would consist of and explained that the University is relying on the expertise of Sotheby's staff.

"We are waiting for [Sotheby's] to give us some proposals or ideas as to what exactly they have in mind. It is really only then that we can make a decision as to what we want to do," he said.

"The idea here is, just to be clear, that our first option is to hold onto the art, to continue to have total control and possession of the art while exploring other alternatives," he added.

Diana Phillips, a spokeswoman for Sotheby's, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "A number of months ago we contacted Brandeis offering a range of suggestions and we are pleased to be working with them to explore alternatives to a sale."

Reinharz said that he believed discussions with Sotheby's would take some time, and he could not predict when the University will be ready to announce a list of concrete proposals for future action.

"Like any kind of negotiation [about] any kind of a proposal of this sort, which is quite complex, I suspect that this is going to take some months. I have no idea when this will happen, and when-and if-it happens, we will obviously announce it," he said.

Phillips wrote that Lisa Dennison, a chairwoman of Sotheby's North America and a former director of the Guggenheim Museum, is involved in these discussions. Reinharz said that he and other senior administrators had been in contact with Sotheby's, but he did not specify which Brandeis administrators are involved.

Reinharz announced in a Jan. 26, 2009 campuswide e-mail that the Board of Trustees voted to close the Rose and sell its paintings in an effort to amass revenue for the University after Brandeis suffered losses to its endowment and financial gifts from donors decreased,; according to that e-mail, the museum would be transformed into a teaching space. In a later e-mail, Reinharz said that the Rose would not close, but it would instead become "more fully integrated into the University's central educational mission."

In July 2009, Meryl Rose, Jonathan Lee and Lois Foster, three members of the Museum's Board of Overseers, filed suit against the University in an effort to maintain the Rose's art collection, stating that the University's decision to close the museum and sell its paintings would violate the Museum's ethical code and the University's commitment to the Rose family to keep the Museum open to the public. The University filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but the motion was denied at a hearing on Oct. 13, 2009.

The trial dates for the litigation are set for Dec. 2 and 13, according to a Feb. 25 e-mail to the Justice from Gully.

Reinharz emphasized in his interview with the Justice that the discussions with Sotheby's were independent of the litigation, explaining that the Board of Trustees' resolution from January 2009 "says very clearly that the administration ought to follow either an orderly sale or other disposition of works from the University collection."

However, Reinharz also said that the Trustees' resolution to sell art if it is necessary is "still on the table."

The press release also states that if this effort to establish alternative methods of garnering revenue is successful, the University will use the proceeds to benefit the Museum and the University's Fine Arts program.

Harry Shipps and Brian Fromm contributed reporting.