QUICK TAKES - Feb. 7, 2009

Brandeis University’s president said he mishandled statements about the fate of the school’s Rose Art Museum and whether Brandeis would sell its 6,000-piece collection to save money.

While the building that houses the museum will remain open, the school in Waltham, Mass., has not determined what will be inside. Brandeis may sell some of its art if necessary, “but I assure you other options will also be considered,” school President Jehuda Reinharz said in a letter to students, faculty and alumni Thursday.

Museum officials were not optimistic. Michael Rush, the museum’s director, said he was told Thursday by the provost that his job and those of his staff would end on June 30.

“This apology is a nice thing, but it doesn’t change anything,” Jonathan Lee, chairman of the museum’s board of overseers, said in an interview Friday. “We’re not going to be a real art museum anymore. They’re killing the museum. The museum director is going. We’re not going to have big-time shows.”