Judge Rejects Idea of Removing Fisk Art Collection

In the latest twist in the legal fight over Fisk University's prized modern art collection, a judge has rejected a plan by Tennessee's attorney general to move it to a Nashville arts center, reopening the prospect that Fisk may be able to sell a half-share in the collection and allow it to be displayed elsewhere for part of the year, The Tennessean reported. Fisk, a financially troubled historically black college, says that it cannot afford to maintain the collection and that proceeds from a sale are needed to support the institution. The judge earlier rejected that idea, saying that Fisk accepted the collection as a bequest to maintain the art, not to raise money. But the judge found that the attorney general's response was not sufficiently long term in its approach. The ruling came on a day that Fisk students protested the plan to move the art to the local arts center.