WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The Rose Art Museum in Waltham, Mass., will soon close as Brandeis University trustees have decided to sell the site's art collection, a Rose official says.
Rose director Michael Rush said the museum is currently facing the possible loss of its estimated 6,000 modern and contemporary works, which would result in the site's closure, The Boston Globe said Sunday.
"We need people with loud voices who care about art," Rush said Saturday.
The Rose museum is part of Brandeis University, which is currently mired in a financial crisis.
That crisis forced trustees to call for the sale of the museum's art works, which are estimated to be worth a total of $350 million.
But Rush said that if the museum's impressive collection is sold off to private collectors, such a sale would be "tainted with the blood of those who have the idea that this can be done easily -- because it can't, and it won't be."
The Globe said the proposed Rose closure has already prompted a protest and an online petition in support of the museum.
