Faculty critical of art removal
'Move on,' Reinharz says
by Rachel Marder
Senior Editor
News | 10/10/06
Posted online at 5:53 AM EST on 10/10/06
/ Last updated at 12:41 PM EST on 10/10/06
University President Jehuda Reinharz said that it's time for Brandeis to "move on" from the debate over the administration's removal of a controversial Palestinian art exhibit last spring.
Reinharz's comments came during Thursday's faculty meeting, in response to faculty criticism and a faculty committee's assessment that the administration has generally promoted more open dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the decision to remove the exhibit was an uncharacteristic error.
Reinharz said faculty members on both sides of the debate have raised "valid issues" regarding the exhibit. But, he added, "I do think we need to move on."
"We all learned a lot from the experience and as a result of these events and the many conversations, including the faculty meeting yesterday, we'll be more prepared to deal with situations that can and will arise in the future," Reinharz elaborated in an e-mail to the Justice Friday.
Reinharz would not respond directly to the committee's assessment of the decision as "uncharacteristic."
The University's removal of "Voices of Palestine," an exhibit of 17 paintings by Palestinian children that were displayed in the Goldfarb Library for only four days of a planned two-week exhibition, was sharply criticized both on campus and in the national press. It also led to a protest May 4 in front of the library. The exhibit was moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where it ran from May 4 to 11.
The paintings, assembled by Lior Halperin, a 27-year-old Israeli undergraduate no longer at the University, included a painting of a map of Israel with a snake wrapped around it and a Star of David formed by a coiled-up snake.
"We felt [the removal] was a departure from the administration's own record of promoting and fostering discussion and dialogue [on] the Middle East and in other matters," said Prof. Paul Jankowski (HIST), the chair of the Exhibitions and Expressions Committee.
Reinharz's comments came during Thursday's faculty meeting, in response to faculty criticism and a faculty committee's assessment that the administration has generally promoted more open dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the decision to remove the exhibit was an uncharacteristic error.
Reinharz said faculty members on both sides of the debate have raised "valid issues" regarding the exhibit. But, he added, "I do think we need to move on."
"We all learned a lot from the experience and as a result of these events and the many conversations, including the faculty meeting yesterday, we'll be more prepared to deal with situations that can and will arise in the future," Reinharz elaborated in an e-mail to the Justice Friday.
Reinharz would not respond directly to the committee's assessment of the decision as "uncharacteristic."
The University's removal of "Voices of Palestine," an exhibit of 17 paintings by Palestinian children that were displayed in the Goldfarb Library for only four days of a planned two-week exhibition, was sharply criticized both on campus and in the national press. It also led to a protest May 4 in front of the library. The exhibit was moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where it ran from May 4 to 11.
The paintings, assembled by Lior Halperin, a 27-year-old Israeli undergraduate no longer at the University, included a painting of a map of Israel with a snake wrapped around it and a Star of David formed by a coiled-up snake.
"We felt [the removal] was a departure from the administration's own record of promoting and fostering discussion and dialogue [on] the Middle East and in other matters," said Prof. Paul Jankowski (HIST), the chair of the Exhibitions and Expressions Committee.
Be the first to comment on this story