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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The brouhaha over the planned sale of the Sordoni Art Gallery collection was largely due to a misunderstanding, Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy said.</p><p>In fact, when Leahy contacted several disconcerted national art organizations and told them the details, &#8220;not only did they back off from their criticism, they became boosters.&#8221;</p><p>On Sept. 1 last year, Leahy announced plans to move the gallery, currently tucked into a relatively obscure part of the cavernous Stark Learning Center on Franklin Street, to the building on South Main Street that formerly housed Bartikowsky Jewelers.</p><p>Part of that plan involves selling most of the existing collection and putting the proceeds toward the gallery&#8217;s permanent endowment, helping to fund much more ambitious exhibits of nationally recognized artists. During a discussion with the Times Leader editorial board Tuesday, Leahy frequently cited Andy Warhol as an example.</p><p>The sale, or &#8220;deaccession&#8221; of the Sordoni collection sparked stinging rebukes from some in the art world, arguing it violated tenets of managing a museum. Leahy said he was stunned by the reaction and, as he delved into it, came to believe &#8220;it was fundamentally a misunderstanding.&#8221;</p><p>It was clear critics felt &#8220;you don&#8217;t treat artwork as just another asset that you can dispose of to make payroll,&#8221; Leahy said. But Wilkes isn&#8217;t doing that, he argued. The sale is intended to strengthen the school&#8217;s commitment to the arts.</p><p>Leahy shared many details, including some changes to the overall plan:</p><p>&#8226; Not only was the plan done with extensive input and support from Andrew Sordoni III, the board of directors unanimously approved it. The university also searched for &#8220;anyone in our history who had given us a piece of art or given us a dollar specifically toward our gallery.&#8221;</p><p>A meeting was held in August with about 100 people, and &#8220;they were jazzed up over this.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226; Wilkes plans to deaccession all of about 1,500 pieces, partnering with Sotheby&#8217;s to sell via auction in New York. Pieces that have particular significance to Wilkes or the area will be kept by the university but won&#8217;t be part of the museum, placed instead in offices and appropriate display locations throughout the campus.</p><p>&#8226; Sotheby&#8217;s determined about 65 pieces hold the bulk of the value in the collection, and is working to draw buyers worldwide to get the best price.</p><p>&#8226; The gallery endowment could grow from about $750,000 to as much as $3 million. &#8220;That would mean almost $150,000 annually to draw exhibits,&#8221; compared to about $33,000 currently, Leahy said. He estimated drawing major exhibits could cost $10,000 to $50,000.</p><p>&#8226; The money put into the endowment will only be used to draw exhibits, not to pay salaries or maintain the building.</p><p>&#8226; The goal is to stop being a collecting museum. That was never the intent. Much of the collection lacks any unified theme, and the university doesn&#8217;t have appropriate space to store.</p><p>&#8226; Initially, the plan called for no expansion of the Main Street building while providing 25 percent more space for the museum. Now, Wilkes is set to expand the building and double museum space, adding enhanced security system features to further draw large exhibits.</p><p>&#8226; The museum will be in the back part of the building. The front will house a newly unified communications department, which includes the campus newspaper, radio station, TV studio, public relations firm and speech and debate. &#8220;Right now, they are currently in six different locations.</p><p>&#8226; There will be two classrooms in the building by the gallery. &#8220;I feel it&#8217;s important to introduce the arts to all of our students, 50 percent of whom are still the first in family to pursue a four-year degree.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;As you all know, in a lot of educational institutions, the arts are under siege,&#8221; Leahy said. &#8220;We feel this is a pretty savvy way to promote the arts at a time when they are under threat.&#8221;</p><p>While Leahy spent much of his time tamping down the Sordoni dustup, he offered other initiatives and plans at Wilkes:</p><p>&#8226; A capital campaign he hopes will boost the university&#8217;s total endowment from $40 million to $60 million or better.</p><p>&#8226; Continue to grow the online offerings, a key part of increasing graduate enrollment, which compensates for a projected decline in undergraduate enrollment from area high schools. &#8220;It&#8217;s a great way for us to diversify our revenue sources,&#8221; Leahy said.</p><p>&#8226; Continue to expand research, and work to transfer results of that research into the business world.</p><p>&#8226; Expand connections overseas. &#8220;Just last week I was in Atlanta and signed a memorandum of understanding with the vice president from the country of Panama to commit to mutually working on exchange programs,&#8221; Leahy said. The university is working toward similar agreements with other Latin American and Caribbean countries.</p><p>&#8226; Push for further growth at the Mesa, Arizona branch of Wilkes, which Leahy conceded &#8220;has been harder than expected.&#8221; The potential is substantial, not only because the county college there has some 260,000 students, but because it can dovetail well with the Latin America initiative.</p><p>&#8226; Expand campus improvements that also help improve downtown Wilkes-Barre. Leahy said Wilkes received a $1 million state grant, to be matched with $300,000 from the university, to replace sidewalks along all of South Franklin Street and part of South Street. Wilkes is applying for more grant money to rebuild all other campus sidewalks.</p><p>&#8220;We want this to be one of the finest small research universities in the nation,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy discusses the Sordoni Art Gallery move and other initiatives with the Times Leader editorial board Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL012016leahy1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy discusses the Sordoni Art Gallery move and other initiatives with the Times Leader editorial board Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Leahy: Deaccession to boost gallery endowment</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes president explains Sordoni art sell-off decision, reveals other initiatives