More on Maier

Preserve Educational Choice, the group fighting to prevent Randolph College in Lynchburg, Va. from auctioning off paintings from its Maier Museum announced today that it has posted the first half of a one million dollar bond. That was the amount required of them by the Lynchburg Circuit Court while they press their lawsuit to block the sale. Last week the Court agreed that the group could put up the money in two portions, with the second half due on Feburary 15.

Anne Yastremski, who heads the group, says the money came from more than 650 donors, in sums ranging from "spare change to $100,000 checks." According to an alumni group Yahoo posting "...one student donated $2,500 she saved from work during the past two summers. A group of students went door-to-door in the dormitories and raised more than $2,200 from 213 of their fellow students (approximately one third of the student body)."

The paintings were originally scheduled to be sold at two November auctions at Christies in New York. A temporary injunction blocked the sale, so the auctions went on without them, but this prolonged drama has many more chapters to come.