University of Dallas News

Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Drew Johnson Students stare at the blank wall where the stolen print once hung.

University of Dallas president Dr. Frank Lazarus said in an interview Monday he was deeply offended by a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe that had been placed on display in the university's art gallery, but he also expressed dismay that it apparently has been stolen by someone who had objected to the print's installation on campus.

During a conversation in his office, Dr. Lazarus discussed the circumstances surrounding the theft of the print, titled "Sinner or Saint," from the Upper Gallery of the Haggerty Art Village last Thursday afternoon.

He said he was away from campus when the print exhibition was opened to the campus for viewing and was made aware Wednesday afternoon that objections were being raised to its presence. That, Lazarus said, was when he went to the gallery to view it with three people-two from the art department and a member of his staff. The president described his reaction as "being offended by this particular print." Lazarus quickly questioned what plans and decisions had already been made regarding the print.

The print was one of 10 included in an art exchange that Murray State University sent to UD. In turn, UD sent 10 art works to Murray State.

Dick Dougherty, chair of the art department at Murray State, said he was informed of the theft over the weekend. He said the print had not caused any problems while on display at the school. He declined to add additional comment.

"There's a legitimate question of academic freedom here," said Dr. Lazarus. "There is a professor, who exercising his own legitimate expertise in the area of art, judged that this was of sufficient use to him as part of an exhibit to at least get some pedagogical value out of it."

"His purpose was to help his students understand how you look at something that is shocking and that might be offensive to you and critique it from the professional perspective of an artist. That's something important that artists have to know how to do," said Dr. Lazarus.

"People are going to place their personal reaction over the common good. That doesn't mean it's the common good to have a picture that desecrates a saint at a Catholic university. What it means is that you have to be careful about making that kind of a judgment," said Dr. Lazarus. "Rather than simply say 'That comes off the wall, take it away,' when you're responsible for a whole group of people and it's an academic exercise and I'm not an art professor, I have to hesitate and say we need to think more about this, we need to have a discussion about this and there are lots of ways we can approach this."

Continued...

Page 1 of 4 next >

Article Tools