A Tennessee Judge has decided financially troubled Fisk University can sell half ownership in its prestigious Alfred Stieglitz Collection of photographs and art for $30 million, if two-third of the proceeds are placed in a new endowment whose sole purpose would be to use its income to ensure the collection remains in Nashville, even if Fisk closes.
The decision by Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle of the Chancery Court for The State of Tennessee, 20th Judicial District, Davidson County, Part III, stunned Fisk officials and the Tennessee Attorney General. For the past five years, the two have fought over various Fisk plans to monetize the collection to raise needed funds.
After a series of rulings by Lyle over the past three months, she was expected to give final approval to Fisk’s co-ownership plan with Fisk expecting to have full access to $30 million to pay off debts, rehab old structures, build new facilities and endow several chairs.
Lyle, asserting the collection was intended to help Fisk over the years not be used to raise funds to support it, essentially forces Fisk to choose between seed money ($10 million) toward rebuilding or foregoing the sale plan altogether. The Stieglitz Collection was given to Fisk in the late 1940s and early 1950s by the late Georgia O’Keefe with the condition it never be sold or moved from Fisk. It has an estimated value of $74 million.
Fisk President Hazel O’Leary questioned the division of funds. She said putting $20 million in what is essential a lock box to which Fisk will have no key, “…far exceeds the amount necessary to secure and maintain the collection.” Her statement was absent the name calling and biting words of more recent pronouncements, despite the setback. She said she “is studying the 35-page ruling and will discuss it with her Board and Fisk’s lawyers before deciding how to proceed.”
Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, who has objected to the proposed sale but seen several of his collection plans rejected by the court, says he was “disappointed” by the court’s decision to approve the sale, adding judge Lyle’s opinion was “lengthy and intricate” and would be analyzed carefully as the state reviews its options.
In deciding to allow Fisk a legal exception to its agreement with O’Keeffe, Lyle said she was required by law to devise a plan for the future of the collection that closely aligned itself with the intentions of the donor, in this case O’Keeffe, and Lyle’s earlier findings that it was financially “impracticable” for Fisk to maintain and exhibit the collection.
