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Lawyer: Fisk University must sell O’Keeffe painting to New Mexico museum
SANTA FE, N.M. — Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., has no choice but to follow through with a settlement agreement reached earlier this year that would allow the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum here to acquire one of the artist’s paintings for $7 million, lawyers for the school said.
Fisk had planned to sell two paintings from its Stieglitz Collection, donated to the university by O’Keeffe, to replenish the historically black university’s endowment.
O’Keeffe’s estate objected to the sale last year on the grounds it would violate the terms of the bequest, and Fisk negotiated a plan that would sell O’Keeffe’s “Radiator Building, Night, New York” to the Santa Fe museum and sell Marsden Hartley’s “Painting No. 3” on the open market.
Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper asked the university to solicit alternative proposals that would let Fisk keep the painting.
The school received eight proposals, including six to buy O’Keeffe’s famous 1927 oil painting for as much as $25 million.
Fisk’s board of trustees discussed the proposals this past week, but Michael Norton, an attorney for the university, said they “don’t have any proposals that would allow Fisk to retain the art permanently.”
The school’s lawyers say they will renew a request that Cooper approve the settlement with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
The university is not happy about that, Norton said, but believes it has a legal obligation to do so.
Under the terms of the settlement, the O’Keeffe Museum would get Radiator Building and Fisk would be permitted to sell another valuable work from its collection by Hartley.
Cooper has numerous options, though, Norton said. The attorney general could approve the settlement; he could approve the sale of the Hartley but not the O’Keeffe; or he could set a specific sales price for the O’Keeffe that reflects the higher value many experts set on the painting in recent weeks.
Saul Cohen, president of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s board, has said if Fisk tries to sell the artwork, the private museum plans to resume a lawsuit against the school.
Security talks in Somalia reach impasse
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Talks between Ethiopian military officials and elders of the dominant clan in the Somali capital have reached an impasse, threatening a two-day truce, one of the elders involved in the negotiations said.
Mogadishu has remained calm since last Friday, when a truce between Ethiopian military officials who had come to bolster the government and elders of Mogadishu’s dominant clan, the Hawiye, took effect.
The truce halted much of last week’s violence, during which dozens of people were killed, most of them civilians. Last Friday, after the truce began, a cargo plane was shot down during takeoff after it delivered equipment and supplies for African Union peacekeepers. All 11 Belarusian crewmembers died.
Saturday’s talks reached an impasse because the Hawiye elders want first to have discussions with President Abdullahi Yusuf and other transitional government officials before there are any further efforts to disarm people in Mogadishu, said Abdi Iman Omer, a spokesman for the elders, late Saturday.
But the Ethiopians have said they want to continue with a so far unsuccessful program to disarm city residents and establish bases in the capital, avoiding any discussion of political issues, Omer told The Associated Press late Saturday.
Both sides have stuck to their positions and “this could lead to new fighting and displacement of civilians,” Omer said.
The U.N. said it received reports that thousands of people fled the capital this week to escape the violence.
Government officials have said their offensive last week was focused on parts of the capital controlled by the Habr Gedir clan, a branch of the larger Hawiye clan.
The Habr Gedir clan is a major supporter of the more radical elements of Islamic courts. Known as the Council of Islamic Courts, the group controlled the capital and southern Somalia for six months before Somali government troops, backed by Ethiopian forces, ousted them in December.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991.
Economist, author named Bennett College president
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Economist and author Julianne Malveaux was named the new president of Bennett College on Monday, taking over the private women’s school amid a $50 million fundraising campaign.
The college’s Board of Trustees chose Malveaux to replace Johnnetta Cole, who has led the historically black university since 2002. Malveaux will take over June 1.
“I am honored to have been chosen to lead an institution that will continue to educate and celebrate African American women at our best,” Malveaux said in a written statement.
Malveaux, a writer and syndicated columnist, has hosted talk radio programs in Washington, New York and her native San Francisco. She serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Economic Policy Institute and Women Building for the Future.
Malveaux earned a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in economics from Boston College.
Cole has said she wanted to serve as Bennett College’s president for five years and leave with the school on a firm financial footing. Bennett was running a $2 million budget deficit and was on academic probation when Cole took over in 2002.
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