Resignation of Met Museum's Head Reveals Deep Problems, Investigation Shows

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The reasons for Erin Colburn's departure from the Metropolitan Museum were not made clear in 2012 when she quit her job after just two years.

But a New York Times investigation into the resignation of the Met's first ever chief officer of digital media has revealed deep-rooted management issues that played into her departure.

Colburn's was a role which Met director and chief executive Thomas P. Campbell created in an effort to carry the famed museum into the 21st century.

According to those interviewed as part of the Times' investigation, Colburn had complained about being unable to do her job due to a close personal relationship between Campbell and a female employee in Colburn's department.

When Colburn reached out to the board about her problems, it concluded that her complaints did not warrant any action and instead began negotiating the terms of Colburn's departure.

Those working at the museum at the time said Campbell's relationship was out in the open. The employee with whom Campbell had gotten intimate had a direct line to his office and commanded power beyond her ranking, the Times reported.

Leaders of the board and employees had already asked Campbell to end the relationship, to no avail, the newspaper said.

Campbell announced his resignation in February. Employees told the Times it was the result of a decline of respect for the museum director and that it reflected deeper issues within the museum's management.

The Times reported that its interviews with employees revealed that, while The Met boasts a board including some of the nation's most powerful donors, it is mostly run by only a dozen trustees and executives.

“If you’re not on the executive committee, you don’t know anything,” an anonymous trustee told the newspaper.

“You’re expected to work and give, but not to question what goes on.”

Almost all of the museum's board and staff members were left in the dark about Colburn's departure from the museum due to the board chairman's hesitancy to reveal any information, the report claimed.

“To drive someone like Erin Coburn out and see her undermined was very disconcerting to the whole department,” Paco Link, the digital department’s former general manager of creative development, told the Times.

Following Campbell's departure in June, interim president Daniel H. Weiss — who has vowed to bring changes to the management — will take his place.

“I know that this has been a difficult time at the Met,” he told the Times in an email last week.

“I look forward to working with my administrative and board colleagues to support a climate of candor, transparency, accountability and mutual respect.”

Original article by Robin Pogrebin from The New York Times

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images