Tennessee Governor Opposes Fisk-Walton Proposal

Although we’ve yet to learn what position Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper Jr. will take when the deal between Fisk University and Alice Walton‘s Crystal Bridges Museum comes up for court approval (or disapproval) on Feb. 19, the Governor himself, Phil Bredesen, has now weighed in.
Erik Schelzig of the Associated Press reports [via]:
Bredesen…said estimates from art experts and insurers indicate the collection “could easily be worth $150 million. And $30 million for half of it [the agreement signed by Fisk and Crystal Bridges] is not a very good deal.”…As a former Nashville mayor, Bredesen said he also would like to see the collection stay in the city….
“If you’re going to sell it, I’d rather they go out and sell it properly and take the money and put it in the bank and secure Fisk’s long-term future,” he said.
Now that’s a REALLY dicey idea. The works should remain in the public domain, preferably at or near the institution where donor Georgia O’Keeffe deposited them. Can the trustees and administration think of no other fiscal solution than selling off the university’s educational and cultural assets?
More from the Tennessean on the university’s dire financial situation, which is behind all this controversy, here and here. NPR weighs in here.