Judge Approves Corcoran’s Controversial Merger Plan

A District of Columbia judge has approved the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s controversial plan to merge with the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University, The Washington Post reports.

The gallery is affiliated with the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

Judge Robert Okun, of the D.C. Superior Court, had ruled last month that a group of students and faculty members who opposed the merger had standing to argue against it. But on Monday he approved the merger, ruling that the plan was the best one to help solve the gallery’s financial problems.

“This court finds it painful to issue an order that effectively dissolves the Corcoran as an independent entity,” Judge Okun wrote. “But this court would find it even more painful to deny the relief requested and allow the Corcoran to face its likely demise—the likely dissolution of the college, the closing of the gallery, and the dispersal of the gallery’s entire collection.”