By: Stuart Martin
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark (UATV) – Students and staff from the School of Art gathered at an event Thursday to voice their concerns to Chancellor Charles Robinson regarding the university’s handling of a student’s art exhibition.
The thesis by graduate student M’Shinda Abdullah-Broaddus included nudity and sexual acts, which led the chancellor to order the blocking of some sight lines and posting up signs noting the nature of the art, covering the window with parchment paper.
M’Shinda covered the windows with his own parchment paper writing the message “because of a general inability to view images depicting consensual gay sex I was told/forced to block my work from view.” This was later asked to be taken down by the school administrators.
After M’Shinda was asked to take down his statement written on the parchment, posters appeared across the entire Windgate Design and Studio building asking the question, “would you censor this?”
The university claims the measures were put in place to inform potential viewers and allow them to make an informed choice of whether to view the art or not. Abdullah-Broaddus, however, has accused the university of censorship and has called the chancellor’s act “deplorable.”
The Manager of University Communications, John Thomas, said “the chancellor did not make a decision to censor any artwork. Censorship is the suppression or prohibition of something. Neither occurred in this scenario.”
Chancellor Robinson has acknowledged and apologized for the execution of the covering of the thesis and has expressed a desire to work with students and staff to clarify guidelines on what is and is not allowed to be displayed in hopes of avoiding similar issues in the future.
Fellow art students at the university believe this was in fact censorship. Though the thesis has been taken down, the discussion of censorship continues to circulate around campus.