@valpopal I know not about the inner workings of the art sale I simply read articles and research the topics in which I discuss on this forum. The words I presented were common talking points on various articles. VUs statement about the museum is the current state of affairs the public is aware of. As someone not affiliated with VU, this is what I have to go off of in order to form an opinion. I am not going to take rumors and speculation unless I have multiple sources confirming this information. It is not a matter of whether I "Believe" the words presented. I am simply presenting information that is readily available on the internet as a talking point to formulate an argument. Not to mention these articles have accounts from VU professors on the sentiment within the school. I am not a professor, nor am I a big ticket donor that would have access to the inner workings of Padilla's court. I can only formulate arguments with the research.
The current word from VU is that the art museum is projected to reopen and that the museum staffing situation will be addressed. Works from inside the museum are planned to be displayed at renovated dorm common rooms in addition to the museum where they can be monitored more closely. The school's statement regarding deaccession and closure of the museum is because they feel they cannot effectively secure the pieces with the current atmosphere in the world. Until I have multiple sources within the university, or articles written by a reputable source confirming otherwise, I must go off of the universities statement. Innocent until proven Guilty, and VU has been proven to be guilty in the past, but they have also been proven to be innocent as well. I am going to maintain this stance until the school is otherwise proven to be a bad actor in this situation. They have proven to be bad actors before with the stripping of tenure track professors as a modern example.
I think Rez is partially correct regarding alumni relationships. Rez is likely correct that a majority of alums would be hesitant to donate when the university is sitting on highly valuable assets that yield little value toward the university's mission. However, the alumni relationship is mixed. University advancement seems to do a good job building relationships that foster donations and, on the whole, are good to work with (though I would frame these relationships as transactional - they work well if the alum/potential donor has a specific area they want to help fund). Colleges can be effective on a case-by-case basis (when I contact leaders in Engineering or Business, I always get a fast response). The university struggles with having events that help alums reconnect.,,I wonder why they don't ask alums what they might like. As stated previously on this site, the biggest issue is that the university seems to have no willingness to engage with alums on strategic issues facing the university (maybe they do this with the largest donors, but I am not in that group). They also do not engage alums to help with student recruiting. By not engaging alums in those issues, they fail to help alums connect with the university and see the university's problems as critical. This is a big mistake.
I should have clarified transactional relationships. The new sign and the cultural center directly relate to those relationships. You are correct that I was trying to refer to engagement and "school pride" if you will. Why the school is so adamant to only want to talk to you if you have a lot of green is mind boggling to me. I am pleased that Hosmer on the athletics side is willing to establish personal relationships with the alumni. I hope her kind character makes its way to the academics sector.
Rez is corret in framing the real issue at hand. Valpo needs new dorms and a new nursing building and the total cost of those two projects is likely close to $100M. I don't inherently feel these projects are about survival, but they are critical for turnaround - especially given the upcoming decline of graduating high school students. So valpopal's comments about "Valpo is disingenuous because it gained funds from other sources" is invalid because it needs the art sale, property sales and more to get to $100M.
First, I never said "Valpo is disingenuous because it gained funds from other sources." I said the urgency of the dorm renovation used as an excuse given by Padillla for the quick decision to sell the art was proven false when other funds were available but not used. However, I will say using the $100 million dollar figure in this argument about the art sale is disingenuous because none of the funds from the land sales or the art sales will be used for the nursing building. There will be a separate fundraising drive devoted to it.
The art sale wasn't the core of the argument. The argument was that VU has a multitude of big ticket items and fundraising is not going to be enough, or not going to go well at all for the reasons provided. Like 84 and I have described, if VU is sitting on art that the general public and would be donors would most likely view as an asset rather than an educational piece, how is that conversation going to go with the would be donor? I also ask again, for you to elaborate where these other funds are, and why haven't they been used? You make claims about VU having money to spend towards dorm renovations, but the spending deficit and the debt of the school are directly contradictory to the claim that VU is just sitting on cash. You cannot just make claims that something has been proven false without elaboration and evidence.
More negative publicity for the university in the Chicago Tribune and the NWI Times. Brauer states the reason for halting his petition:
“It was a very difficult decision. The University was threatening me, and my attorney, who was representing me pro bono, with sanctions. The thought of that fight made me sick to my stomach. A 97-year-old man, and the attorney working for free, facing untold thousands of dollars in sanctions and fines? It was not a position I could afford to be in. I did not want my heir paying fines to Valparaiso University over my decision to try and save the museum which bears my name. I applied to intervene to identify the inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the University’s petition as it pertained to me, and in the process recover my good name. I will now let the University face the consequences of its efforts,” Brauer said in the release.
https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/status/1829652845223727528
https://twitter.com/nwi/status/1829493784456880312
One piece of this discussion that has disturbed me throughout this whole art sale affair is the Administration's rhetorical dismissal -- as expressed in its original announcement, statements to the media, and representations in legal pleadings -- of the art museum and its collection as not being essential to the mission of the university.
That dismissive and demeaning characterization has unduly framed the debate, whereas another legitimate position is that a high quality art museum is a tangible and important expression of a university's commitment to the humanities. Perhaps those who support the art museum being used as an ATM for the university in lieu of more effective fundraising can at least try to understand why this is so heartbreaking to others.
Overall, I'd give the University's handling of this matter a very low grade, most recently via the predictable yet unfortunate legal tactics that prompted the withdrawal of Prof. Brauer's petition. Of course, these tactics are familiar in so many instances where a comparatively well-funded institution is trying to silence a legitimate critic or whistleblower. But they are no less disappointing because others employ them.
I have not been unalterably opposed to the art sale, but I've never been persuaded that this was the only viable route toward raising the necessary funds. The University's position quickly became hardened and seemingly ego-driven, rather than transparent and explanatory. In any event, I expect that we'll hear sooner than later that the paintings have been sold. At that point, we should all hope that the residence hall space created with that money has a significantly positive impact on student recruitment, for if it doesn't, then the cost of splintering the VU community and hurting morale will have been completely for naught.
@david81 The proof of the pudding will be whether we see an immediate initiation of dorm construction activity upon the sale of the art. Failure to do so on the part of the administration will indicate that it was a charade.
I say this assuming that the university has already performed the studies, drawn up the plans and is poised to begin - only needing the money. OTOH, if the aforementioned has not been done, ya gotta wonder about the basis for even suggesting the sale.
I previously had expressed support for selling the artwork but I’m starting to back off that position. I’m in favor of selling the artwork as a last resort type of option. But I don’t think that Valpo is anywhere near that.
Rather, it appears that selling the artwork is seen as “easy” money. Valpo hasn’t exhausted all of its options, especially as it relates to alumni support. The easy option is more appealing sometimes when you’re in over your head.
As others have mentioned, selling the artwork now runs the risk of permanently splintering the community. That might actually cost the university more in the long run than whatever funds can be generated.
I previously had expressed support for selling the artwork but I’m starting to back off that position. I’m in favor of selling the artwork as a last resort type of option. But I don’t think that Valpo is anywhere near that.
Rather, it appears that selling the artwork is seen as “easy” money. Valpo hasn’t exhausted all of its options, especially as it relates to alumni support. The easy option is more appealing sometimes when you’re in over your head.
As others have mentioned, selling the artwork now runs the risk of permanently splintering the community. That might actually cost the university more in the long run than whatever funds can be generated.
We don't have 100's of thousands of alumni. Remember, we recently closed (fall of 2022) a $322 million endowment drive and we will be opening a new drive for the Nursing project shortly.
Not to mention P3ps come with a lot of debt if you don't have the money. While I don't think a p3p will be used for projects such as VV and the CONHP, a P3p is a very real option for student housing. It is better to "pay with cash" than to go into more debt.
We don't have 100's of thousands of alumni. Remember, we recently closed (fall of 2022) a $322 million endowment drive and we will be opening a new drive for the Nursing project shortly.
Valpo has done very little with alumni engagement and doesn’t appear to have any future plans to improve. Maybe the current donor base is tapped out. But Valpo isn’t cultivating a new donor base, which is hard work. Money is being left on the table to go after the easy money.
Valpo has done very little with alumni engagement and doesn’t appear to have any future plans to improve.
Valpo has posted about an upcoming national “tour” with the president. Doubtless this is to drum up support for the nursing building, but they seem to be casting a wide net. I wonder how much pushback these events will see from the art crowd.
On a related note, the alumni office had promoted a Napa wine tour event that seems to have been cancelled. The link in my email no longer works.
mj08 - Valpo does a lot of alumni engagement to raise money. While I have seen more effective university advancement organizations, Valpo's is pretty good (look at the current endowment relative to university size for evidence of their effectiveness). As I have said previously, the problem Valpo has with alumni relations is not that they are not in contact with many of the right people, the problem is that these relationships are highly transactional. There is no serious dialog on the university's strategy and subsequent decisions. Further, the university never engages alumni on other areas where they may be able to help (e.g., student recruitment).
@valpopal at the end you need to add things up to figure out how projects can be funded. Regarding the Strongbow property or what properties they have, how much cash can be generated to fund these projects?
Valpo and its community should be strong in STEM, let’s figure out the funding and what’s required for these projects.
@usc4valpo I know in particular for about 15-20 years, VHS had never seen a student in their engineering courses not get accepted to Purdue. Even today they have something ridiculus like a 80-90% success rate. VHS has a phenomenal engineering program, but the school has not invited Valpo students back to campus since an 8th grader made some comments about the law school in an open discussion with admissions staff around 7 years ago. Need to get back into the community.
