After months of uncertainty, the short-term fate of the New Jersey State Museum has finally been revealed. Despite plans proposed by Republican governor Chris Christie that the museum (along with the State Library and Thomas Edison College) be folded into Rutgers University, it was recently announced that the merger has been canceled. (Why the plans were scrapped has not been made public.) The NJSM will remain open under the Department of State for at least another year.

The decision leaves me with mixed feelings. I am happy that the museum is not going to be immediately shut down, but I am frustrated that it will not receive the essential support it needs to be revitalized. In fact, the