The teach-in will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday in Woodburn Hall, room 100.
(Courtesy of Elizabeth Housworth)
Indiana University faculty will protest and spread awareness of Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s canceled exhibit at a teach-in Friday.
Alex Lichtenstein, chair of the American Studies Department and a professor, is an organizer of the teach-in, also called “Warning! Dangerous Art!” The event will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday in Woodburn Hall, room 100.
The teach-in will feature IU professors, artists and experts discussing the implications of the cancellation of the Eskenazi Museum of Art exhibit, he said. People from the floor are also allowed to speak, including those who support the cancellation.
“The point of a teach-in really is almost like a lightning round of as many people as you can fit into a program as possible, each speaking less than 10 minutes, so that you get a wide range of views,” Lichtenstein said.
The event will include conversations from experts on freedom of expression, art, and art history, Lichtenstein said. He said he’s not sure how many people will attend, but he’s only been met with positive responses since announcing the event.
“Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” was set to show Feb. 10 after three years of preparation. It would have been the first American retrospective of Halaby’s work.
One of the main purposes of the teach-in is to make students aware of the cancellation of Halaby’s exhibit, because they were denied the opportunity to see it and might not have another one, Lichtenstein said.
“When the university cancels art exhibits like this, they're cheating IU’s students out of the education that they're paying for,” Lichtenstein said.
Organizers selected Woodburn because of its history. Room 100 contains murals by Thomas Hart Benton depicting the Klu Klux Klan, which prompted protests in 2017. Lichtenstein said an open-door discussion concerning the artwork led to interesting conversations about free speech from many different viewpoints.
“It was really one of the most exciting events I've ever attended at IU,” he said. “I'm hoping this will be the same.”
Lichtenstein said he and other faculty found out about the cancellation of Halaby’s exhibit at the Eskenazi Museum of Art in January, weeks after Halaby was notified privately on Dec. 20. Halaby’s grand-niece Madison Gordon broke the news of the cancellation with a petition in January, saying the exhibit was canceled in a two-sentence email with no further explanation.
IU has declined multiple requests for interviews. An IU spokesperson has maintained that the event was canceled due to security concerns from campus officials and academic leaders.
In addition to Halaby’s studio, free speech organizations including the ACLU and the National Coalition Against Censorship have called for the reinstatement of the exhibition and condemned IU. About 15,000 people have signed Gordon’s petition to reinstate Halaby’s exhibition as well. IU faculty leaders, staff, students and artists have also protested.
Many protests have suggested political pressure caused the cancellation. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks (R, IN-03) wrote in a Nov. 16 letter to President Pamela Whitten that the university is failing to combat antisemitism. Banks threatened that IU could lose federal funding and took aim at student activists. He called pro-Palestinian demonstrations "pro-terrorist.” After the letter, Professor and Palestine Solidarity Committee advisor Abdulkader Sinno was suspended for two semesters and Halaby’s exhibit was canceled.
IU also cited security concerns in its reasoning for suspending Sinno.
In a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting, Provost Rahul Shrivastav said the university was being cautious by canceling Halaby’s exhibit. He said the event would have been a “lightning rod” for protests in the middle of campus. He didn’t say who exactly made the decision or if any credible threats were made despite being pressed by faculty.
"If you don't want people to be suspicious, you have to be a little more transparent about your motives and your decisions,” Lichtenstein said about IU.
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @aubreymwright.
