Republican forces in the Iowa House have voted to compel the University of Iowa to sell the centerpiece of its art collection, a Jackson Pollock work, in order to fund scholarships for art students. This is despite opposition from many quarters and is also contrary to the wishes of the donor. Further details here : http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/02/17/Metro/21449.html

Actually, we think this makes a lot of sense, and is a policy that could and should be applied much more broadly to balance budgets of communities and universities alike.

First, once you sell off the contents or the best contents of the university and public museums, costs will certainly decline. There will be few if any students and visitors interested in attending – major savings right there.

Second, why not extend the program to include libraries and other cultural institutions? Once emptied of pesky rare books requiring expensive climate controlled storage, library buildings could be converted to high end shopping or other approved GOP use. Museums, too. Many such institutions occupy seriously delicious real estate in major cities around the U.S. Why haven’t other lawmakers thought of this before?

Pretty much all the art anyone would want to see and all the books anyone would want to read or inspect can be accessed online, so these “bricks and mortar” buildings and their contents are passe anyway in the digital age.

To the extent that art and culture is fungible it should be funged and the proceeds spent to reduce deficits. Taxes should also be decreased for high net worth citizens, encouraging them to buy such liquidated art and artifacts and remove them to their secure gated communities. We are sure they will gladly make these treasures available for viewing by any art or other students who might happen by. If that isn’t a win/win what is?

Betsy Dorfman