Chicago Art Trustees Curb ‘Disruptive’ Student Works

Trustees of a Chicago art school where two recent exhibits--including one of a U.S. flag on the floor--caused heated protests have issued strict new guidelines allowing for removal of disruptive student artworks.

Under the guidelines, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago can “relocate or remove” any exhibit that may violate the law or be “hazardous to the health and or safety of viewers or participants.”

The guidelines, formulated by a committee of students, teachers and administrators, also give the school the authority to determine “when, if, how long and where” students’ art will be shown.

Can Relocate Displays

Displays that “may be disruptive to the educational process” can be relocated or removed, say the rules, released Thursday.

Marshall Field IV, president of the board of trustees, spelled out the new policy in a letter to board members.

A long debate in arriving at the guidelines shows “the extreme difficulty of balancing personal freedom of expression in an educational environment with responsibilities to . . . community concerns and public sensitivities,” Field wrote.

Site of Protests

The Art Institute has been the site of protests within the last two years over two student exhibits--one that included an American flag on the floor where it could be walked on and the other a painting of the late Mayor Harold Washington in women’s undergarments.

State Sen. Walter W. Dudycz, a Republican who led protests against the flag exhibit, praised the guidelines as an attempt to treat controversial student exhibits equally.

But Harvey Grossman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois, said the guideline governing health and safety hazards is “particularly vague and could result in chilling and inhibiting student creativity and expression.”