Fisk Could Close its Doors if Art Goes Unsold, AG Says the University Could Be Bluffing

Fisk University will be back in court this week trying to sell a 50% stake in its multi-million dollar art collection. The historically black school says if it can’t turn the art into $30 million cash, it may have to close its doors. The state Attorney General suggests Fisk is bluffing.

Here’s a line from court documents filed for the trial. “Fisk has become financially unstable, and it is now in danger of having to suspend its operations or significantly alter its current state.” It’s a more dramatic assessment of the school’s financial problems than previously described in court. Fisk is continuing court appeals in order to sell half of the Stieglitz Collection to a museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, owned by Walmart heiress Alice Walton.

The only thing standing in the way is the Tennessee Attorney General. In court documents, the AG points out that Fisk has been saying it is in dire financial straits for years but has managed to keep the university afloat without sanctions from its accreditation body. Even without the financial hardship argument, the Attorney General – as protector of charitable gifts in Tennessee – says the art was given to Fisk so it could be available to people in Nashville and the South. The giver – the later painter Georgia O’Keeffe – made her wishes very clear that the collection was not to be sold. And the Attorney General argues O’Keeffe never intended the art to be turned into revenue for Fisk’s continued operation.

The courtroom trial over Fisk’s art collection starts Wednesday.