Lincoln University art moved

OXFORD, Penn. -- The trustees of Lincoln University voted Saturday to approve a deal with the Barnes Foundation to allow one of the world's most significant private art collections to be moved from a suburban gallery to downtown Philadelphia.\nTrustees of the historically black school voted to drop opposition to a court petition from the cash-strapped foundation to move the collection to a spot near the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of a plan to stave off bankruptcy.\n"This move will enable thousands of young people and older people to come and view the art and participate in Barnes' educational programs in a way they cannot do so now," said Bernard Watson, president of the Barnes' board of trustees.\nThe move is forbidden by the will left by Dr. Albert Barnes in 1951, and the foundation had filed the petition to break the will. The foundation says the strict operating rules established decades ago by Barnes have left it nearly insolvent.\nIf the petition is approved, three charitable foundations have promised to help the Barnes raise $150 million to build a new gallery and establish a large endowment.\nLincoln, named in Barnes' will to appoint four of the five trustees on the foundation's board, had not objected to the move, but opposed the foundation's request in its petition to expand its board to 15 trustees, with Lincoln still nominating four.