Cooper Hewitt Trustees resign en masse
Six trustees, among them the prominent designer David Rockwell, have resigned from the board of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum to protest the removal of the museum’s director, Caroline Baumann, following an investigation into issues including her 2018 wedding. Ms. Baumann was forced to resign on Feb. 7 after an investigation by the Smithsonian’s inspector general into how Ms. Baumann procured her dress and the venue for the ceremony.
In a resignation letter protesting the ouster of former Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum director Caroline Baumann for suspected improprieties involving her purchase of a bargain designer wedding dress, architect David Rockwell of Rockwell Group writes, "We all serve on the board because we share the principles of the institution and the values of its leadership. I cannot in good conscience continue on the board given how Caroline’s dismissal was handled.”
Along with their expertise, several of the departing trustees are taking funding they had planned to provide to the museum with them.
The Cooper-Hewitt is run by the Smithsonian Institute, a partially publicly funded entity that, according to a The New York Times report from journalist Robin Pogrebin, has a conflict of interest policy stating that employees "must not engage in private or personal activities that might conflict, or appear to conflict, with Smithsonian interests, such as using Smithsonian employment for pri...
