According to the Collegian, the administration at Penn State have cancelled an art exhibit on the Israel-Palestinian conflict from a Jewish perspective.
It had to do with a policy that from my superficial understanding of the First Amendment, seems totally unconstitutional.
Three days before his 10-piece exhibit — Portraits of Terror — was scheduled to open at the Patterson Building, Stulman (senior-painting and anthropology) received an e-mail message from the School of Visual Arts that said his exhibit on images of terrorism “did not promote cultural diversity” or “opportunities for democratic dialogue” and the display would be cancelled.
Stulman’s art, according the fine reporting of the Collegian, “raises questions concerning the destruction of Jewish religious shrines, anti-Semitic propaganda and cartoons in Palestinian newspapers, the disregard for rules of engagement and treatment of prisoners, and the indoctrination of youth into terrorist acts.” Sounds like interesting art work to this Rabbi son of a Painter.
Penn State’s Hillel was helping Stulman to exhibit the artwork, and are quoted as trying to find another venue to show the art to support Jewish students. Yashar Koach to PSU Hillel and Tuvia Abramson, director of Penn State Hillel.
Tip of the Yarmulke to Israpundit
This is especially ridiculous when you consider the huge “scandal” made about the man who disturbed the Snow White and the Madness of Truth terrorist exhibit.
It’s bull*** that the problem was Hillel’s sponsorship. Until the last minute, that issue had never been raised. The ban was solely about the content of the artwork. Now PSU is busy peddling a story that it never was going to censor the exhibit and that they’ve offered to help the student in every way. They’ve also implied that the original (very brave) reporting in the student newspaper got the facts wrong. How cowardly can you get – to try and blame the school paper for the “mis”information.
Oh, thats interesting… because the Palestinian acts depicted in his art didn’t “promote cultural diversity” or “opportunities for democratic dialogue”
Absolutely ridiculous. So much for Academic Freedom. If Palestinians wanted to protest on campus through art, would the administration stop them? Does anyone know if there are cases of opposite opinions being expressed on campus?
Hillel supposedly didn’t sponsor the actual exhibit, just the reception. This was the “offical” reason given byt the University for cancelling the exhibition. Even though there was a previous echibition also “sponsored” by Hillel in February that went off without an incident.
Wow, I hadn’t heard about this. I’m going to do a bit of investigation, and post about it myself, and I’ll definitely link to you when I do.
Good to see you guys picked it up. Even though I mentioned it yesterday, Israpundit does a better job covering it. Now for the part I really wanted to hear, everyones feedback…
Must be that all-powerful Jewish Lobby I’ve been hearing about.