Brooklyn Art Students Dumboed Down

Source: NY Times 5 /12 Arts "Student Relocate a Shuttered Art Show" by Randy Kennedy

FM-FM: Comment
This week the NY Times has been reporting on a Brooklyn College graduate student's thesis art show in a World War II memorial hall near the Brooklyn Bridge that city officials have found offensive and forced the college to shut down and move. Of course, the students (18) objected and protested enough to bring it to the public's attention. The issue is about content. A genitilia sculpture and rats were not appropriate for families claimed the city officials. Tricky question. The horrors of war are not likely to be prominent in a World War II memorial hall, but horrors are implied in a war memorial. I'm not saying that rats and a part of the human anatomy usually kept in one's trousers should not upset families, plus the exhibit seems to violate an oral agreement made with Brooklyn College. It remains a free- speech issue nevertheless. The students threatened to file a federal law suit and have accepted a new location for their show. The Times gave space to the story. The college found an alternative space to show the work in the Dumbo neighborhood in Brooklyn. The students still plan to file a federal law suit. Civilized, educational, and democratic.