@valpopal Huh, okay, thanks for pointing out some of the differences between the academic vs museum situations. Yes, that seems distinctive to the Brauer that the upper admins re-opening the museum then functionally forced a re-hiring of somebody.... though I still don't see how any individual lower-level faculty or staff membert could be forced to serve on the search committee.
I'm sure the Brauer committee would have (hopefully?) told Canning about the wild budget layoffs of the last curators and how they were escorted out by the police, and the collections loaned to us left in limbo, etc. So if he still took the job knowing (I think?) what a shit show COVID had been with the salary cuts and budget layoffs and Museum closure, then that was also his risky decision to come. Assuming the committee did some basic due diligence in painting the picture for him, he was a grown adult with free will who chose to come.
I have spoken with search committee members, and I can assure you they had no knowledge of the art sale plan and no reason to believe there would be any problems, since there were "differences between the academic vs museum situations...distinctive to the Brauer that the upper admins re-opening the museum then functionally forced a re-hiring of somebody."
Also, the search committee members were honest (as they were informed by the administration) with Canning about the situation concerning the temporary closing of the museum because of covid. After all, one of the committee members is married to a museum official that was literally "escorted out by the police." However, the committee was falsely assured by the administration such measures were a result of the covid crisis and that was over.
I feel bad for the heroic faculty and staff who are working hard to provide a valuable and meaningful student experience on many levels. However, the current administration is not causing these issues - they are dealing with a confluence of very difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, many people, however well-intentioned, have criticized and opposed hard choices that need to be made. Did Valpo need a Japanese language minor? Yet when that was cut, it was criticized as the, "death of liberal arts." Ditto for many low-enrollment programs that have recently been announced as closing.
In the specific case of Mr. Canning, probably everyone, (hiring committee, faculty, administrators, etc.) told him the truth as they understood it at the time. Over the last four years, the financial situation deteriorated. So, given all of the financial constraints, President Padilla wants to sell three very valuable paintings in order to better the University.
Imagine a hypothetical conversation along these lines: "Mr. Canning, the University has three very valuable paintings we could sell for perhaps $20M. Help us sell them for as much as we can. If we get $20M, we'll put $1M in the endowment to help fund the Director position (your job!), and $1M in the endowment for future art purchases. You'd have a budget of $40K/year to buy more art. We are going to use the $18M to upgrade our dorms and student experience so we recruit and retain more students, which will benefit the whole university."
Instead of going along with a proposal like that, Mr. Canning went nearly scorched earth, putting together an exhibit about the de-accessioning process and rallying supporters against the President. Some have nobly criticized the University, without proposing alternatives of the same magnitude. Remember, President Padilla faces the deep challenges which are made worse, not better by the controversy over the sale of three paintings.
Would I rather keep the paintings? Yes, for sure. Would I rather the university close down some other function core to the university, maybe cut or not replace even more faculty? No. So again it is a hard choice.
In the specific case of Mr. Canning, probably everyone, (hiring committee, faculty, administrators, etc.) told him the truth as they understood it at the time.
Except that Pres. Padilla did not inform Canning or the search committee the truth that he had already apparently contracted appraisers and made the decision to sell the artworks at the time of Canning assuming the director's position. Padilla further remained deceptive about the process until one of the museum people accidentally discovered the truth months later when stumbling upon covert activity by the administration on a day the museum was closed.
Padilla was confronted in a January email by Richard Brauer and then forced by an open letter dated in February to admit he and the board had secretly approved the sale a number of months before. Padilla and the administration did not tell Canning "the truth as they understood it at the time"; indeed, they hid information from him that he had a right to know for six months and only acknowledged the truth when compelled by facts revealed through others.
valpopal - Let me ask you questions that may seem unrelated to the topic at hand - but are quite relevant. How much time did you personally spend in the last academic year meeting with prospective Valpo students and their families? How many did you actually meet with? Same questions for your colleagues in liberal arts who spend so much time opposing the art sale? The revenue from new and current students is the financial engine that makes everything else possible...including the museum and retaining art.
valpopal - Let me ask you questions that may seem unrelated to the topic at hand - but are quite relevant. How much time did you personally spend in the last academic year meeting with prospective Valpo students and their families? How many did you actually meet with? Same questions for your colleagues in liberal arts who spend so much time opposing the art sale? The revenue from new and current students is the financial engine that makes everything else possible...including the museum and retaining art.
When I taught at a law school years ago, I was always reminded that it was not wise to ask a question you don't already know the answer. I have regularly met with prospective students and their families in my campus office, even quietly hosted prospective basketball players, guiding them and answering their questions, during campus visits at the request of the coaches. In addition, I have made phone calls to prospective students and maintained email correspondences with their families at the request of the admissions office or my department chair.
As for my colleagues who oppose the art sale, the two most prominent are Richard Brauer and John Ruff, both of whom have been praised by the university many times for their contributions, including for their outreach to prospective students and the Valparaiso community. In fact, for many years Ruff actually organized such outreach as the director of the freshmen core program, as a department chair, and as an assistant dean. He even received the Faculty Member of the Year award from Valparaiso University. The three of us have participated in public programs and promotional materials for VU, and combined we boast approximately 135 years of service to Valparaiso University, which is why we are devoted to upholding the school's reputation.
valpopal - Let me ask you questions that may seem unrelated to the topic at hand - but are quite relevant. How much time did you personally spend in the last academic year meeting with prospective Valpo students and their families? How many did you actually meet with? Same questions for your colleagues in liberal arts who spend so much time opposing the art sale? The revenue from new and current students is the financial engine that makes everything else possible...including the museum and retaining art.
I'd like to piggy back on this and ask some more questions. What alternatives would you have proposed to fund much needed campus improvements. Did you or your colleges even attempt to convey these (if any) methods to the top brass? Furthermore, do you think the university, in its current financial situation had access to the funds to provide for the proper maintaining of these pieces and/or the art museum as a whole? Once again, I ask as have many others here, would you rather the school sell 3 paintings now and give themselves a better shot at survival, or sell all 5 thousand plus pieces of art 40-50 years down the line when the school would inevitably run out of money to sustain themselves?
valpopal - I am glad that I asked the question and am glad that you and others seem to have put forth substantial effort to attract students to Valpo.
@valpopal, I think I misunderstood something, so want to walk back at least a portion of my comments. There were several references in the thread to cuts at Valpo in 2020, and also COVID which happened in 2020. However, looking back at the timeline for myself, it looks like the timing of the interviews would have been in the spring or summer of 2022 (not 2020 as I thought based reading though the comments).
As far as I can tell, the Brauer Museum re-opened in the fall of 2022, and there is a Torch article that features him as the new director dated September 1, 2022. I can't tell exactly what his official start date was.
Again, according to the Torch, the Board authorized President Padilla to sell the three paintings in October of 2022, though that action was not made public until later. This makes the timing of the interviews and hiring important. Especially if President Padilla intentionally misled Mr. Canning during the interview process, that is a bad look, but it may or may not have happened that way. I doubt that the hiring committee would have known an art sale was under consideration. There is much about this we do not know.
The financial problems may have gotten much worse in the fall of 2022 due to lower than expected enrollments, yet that is also hard to tell.
@vu72 No worries. And yes I am new...but the state of VU is disheartening at best. Yes, I am emotional about the uni, the pending art sale, the recent staff cuts UGH...but I still don't understand why VU has waited SOOOO damn long to make residential improvements?
@vualpha88 - wow, you nailed the biggest issue with Valpo leadership, which is they are always behind the timing in their actions and rarely proactive. The dorms should have been renovated awhile back whether or not art sales are used.
I have a feeling Canning and Padilla banged heads for awhile, and when that happens, the boss stays and the reports go.
Padilla has his job cut out for him, and he made decisions that will always piss off some faction of the university stakeholders. Valpo leadership will not solve everything - and they need to figure out their strengths, derive 3 "wildly important goals" and focus on that. Not with tact at all times, Padilla is trying to do that. If he's successful, many schools will see this and he will move on to bigger, more extravagant pastures.
As far as I can tell, the Brauer Museum re-opened in the fall of 2022, and there is a Torch article that features him as the new director dated September 1, 2022. I can't tell exactly what his official start date was.
Again, according to the Torch, the Board authorized President Padilla to sell the three paintings in October of 2022, though that action was not made public until later. This makes the timing of the interviews and hiring important. Especially if President Padilla intentionally misled Mr. Canning during the interview process, that is a bad look, but it may or may not have happened that way. I doubt that the hiring committee would have known an art sale was under consideration.
Here is the chronology as I have been told by those involved and from correspondences written by participants on both sides that I have read. The hiring committee process began in late spring and extended into the summer of 2022. While the hiring committee was conducting its work and before Canning was hired, Padilla already was working on his plan and secretly brought representatives of auction houses to the museum for evaluation of the works. The committee and the job candidate were not informed of the art sale plan. Canning was hired in August. Had he known about the plan, Canning would not have accepted the job.
Padilla persuaded the Board to approve his art sale plan in a private executive session in October and this was not revealed to faculty senate, the museum board that oversees the collection, the museum director and his staff, or any faculty on campus. Padilla kept this secret from Canning and everyone else for months until further appraisers were accidentally discovered by a staff member operating at the museum on a day it was closed in January. Brauer confronted Padilla in an email in January about this, as did members of the hiring committee and the faculty senate. Since the lack of transparency continued, an open letter about the plan to sell the artwork was published on February 6, finally forcing Padilla to admit the sale plan publicly on February 8. Therefore, Canning was kept in the dark about something crucial he had the right to know when he was hired and for six months after he assumed the directorship.
