Randolph College Faces Temporary Injunction Against Art Sale

A Lynchburg, Va., Circuit Court judge granted a temporary injunction against the sale of four paintings by Randolph College’s Maier Museum of Art on Thursday, largely in response to increasingly organized opposition to the sale, reports the Associated Press.

The college, which hoped to sell the paintings at Christie’s auction house in New York this month and receive $32-million in total, will not be allowed to proceed with the sales until a lawsuit against the college is settled.

While Randolph officials say the art sales are needed to bolster the college’s dwindling endowment, Judge Leyburn Mosby said in his ruling that “the harm if the art is sold is greater than the harm if the art is not sold.”

Brenda Edson, a Randolph spokeswoman, says that the college will appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court and hopes the decision will be reversed in time for the first scheduled auction on November 19.