DePaul University professors, students, and community members are urging the administration to reverse its decision to close the DePaul Art Museum in Lincoln Park, according to a March 20 report. The university announced last month that the museum will cease operations on June 30 as part of ongoing budget planning.
The closure has sparked significant concern among faculty and supporters who see the museum as an important educational and cultural resource. An open letter led by philosophy professor Sean Kirkland and other faculty members has gathered nearly 3,800 signatures since its publication on Feb. 28, reflecting widespread opposition to the decision.
The letter describes the closure as “short-sighted, wrong-headed and grounded in some deeply disappointing principles of prioritization.” Kirkland said, “With the headwinds we are facing in higher education today and the forces that push us toward lowering academic standards, toward introducing education-antagonistic tools and practices, toward turning the university into a professional school, this is the very moment to be encouraging our students to see the enormous human value of the arts, not turning our collective back on them.”
Kirkland explained that he and other faculty organizers met with DePaul Provost Salma Ghanem last week to discuss their concerns. Some hope for a pause in operations rather than a permanent closure so outside funding can be secured—a process museum Director Laura-Caroline de Lara had been pursuing before news of the shutdown halted those efforts. The university has not responded directly to questions about reopening possibilities but stated it would “convene a discussion with our university community to explore how the museum building and its collections can continue to serve as assets to DePaul.”
Members of the museum’s advisory board also sent a letter expressing “significant anger, frustration and deep sadness regarding [DePaul’s] recent egregious decision.” The board criticized what they described as poor decision-making by administrators but committed themselves “to a different approach if in fact there is a willingness to change the path taken.”
The DePaul Art Museum opened at its Fullerton Avenue location in 2011 but traces its roots back to 1985. Its collection now includes about 4,000 objects. While DePaul says it does not plan to sell either the building or collection at this time, their future remains uncertain.
Matthew Girson, a longtime professor at DePaul who teaches painting and drawing, said losing access to high-quality exhibitions would be especially hard for students: “My sadness is primarily for the students, that if the museum closes, they will be losing access to extremely high quality artists and exhibitions that are often local artists who are recognized internationally for their excellence.”
Looking ahead, Kirkland believes there may still be room for compromise: “I think this is an opportunity for us to double down on that historical profile, and insist that we’re still that kind of art-valuing institution.”
