Miami Student

Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Editorials

President David Hodge's review of the October noose incident, released to the Miami University community Friday afternoon functionally re-hatched a healing debate and refocused blame on the culpable art students. Nov. 2, 2007 marked our initial editorial immediately following the incident itself, with that editorial board focusing on how we felt and continue to feel that Hodge's initial response was an unfair framing of the art display as a result of a rushed effort to issue an administrative response. In the context of the new announcement, The Miami Student editorial board believes the follow-up released should not have been as overly vague as it was in regard to re-codifying how the Miami community interacts with art.

This editorial board understands and agrees with the administration that the art exhibition itself lacked proper framing. However, we feel it is dangerous to simply say that art should be placed in "appropriate places." We agree with dele jegede, the chair of the art department, when he said there should not be censorship placed on student artwork. A principle right of artists is the freedom to express views through symbols, and, with respect to the security of other people in the community, place installation art where it would be most effective. Additionally, while we cannot assume that everyone understands art's intended symbolic meaning, we should not use one incident as a potential litmus test for future art displays. We should be aware of keeping the future of public art displays or discussions of how art is perceived within the respective departments.

This must continue to be a university-wide discussion of methods and display. Implementing more guidelines and tools to ensure future artists will responsibly construct displays with an understanding of the cultural context should successfully remove fears of what out-of-context art will provoke without having to be overly concerned with its placement on campus. Not only will further instruction in the cultural context of art help expand a beginner art student's learning experience, but it will facilitate critical thinking about what type of art is being presented to the community and what types of messages are being displayed. However, the guidelines for artwork should be communicated clearly and precisely and should not limit a student's freedom to make socially aware critiques of our culture.

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