The Washington Post reports that a judge in the D.C. Superior Court approved a plan that would have the Corcoran Gallery of Art merge with the National Gallery and George Washington University.

The plan had been stalled over objections from a group of students and faculty at the Corcoran calling itself Save the Corcoran. In his opinion Judge Robert Okun wrote:

“This court finds it painful to issue an order that effectively dissolves the Corcoran as an independent entity. But this court would find it even more painful to deny the relief requested and allow the Corcoran to face its likely demise — the likely dissolution of the college, the closing of the gallery, and the dispersal of the gallery’s entire collection.”