Brandeis University has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by directors of the school’s Rose Art Museum. The Rose's future has been in question since the school announced in January that it would close the museum because of a diminished university endowment. Although the university subsequently backtracked on the decision, saying it would turn the Rose into an art study center, three members of the museum's board of overseers, Meryl Rose, Jonathan Lee, and Lois Foster, filed a suit in July seeking to keep the Rose open and to prevent the school from selling any works.

In its motion, the university says that Rose, Lee, and Foster do not have the right to file a suit and that they are trying to take control of the museum and its assets for personal objectives. The motion also argues that to seize works from a charitable, educational facility and turn them over to another organization would be unprecedented and would disrespect “centuries of Massachusetts charities law.” A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 13.

Read more at the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research.