At freshman orientation, we are taught that American University encourages diversity. We learn that this campus is a safe zone for race, gender, sexual orientation and ideology. This is no longer the case, however. This August, TDR has become uninviting for conservative students on campus.
I am referring to the newest art installation in the seating areas. The Photoshop creation of four well-known Republicans, including President Bush and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, is pixelated and blurred to represent images on a screen that have no more knowledge of any truth than a photograph, fencepost, or rock.
How does this piece of overly partisan work belong in a place that almost everyone on campus has to use? Everything else hung in TDR features a global theme. Having this political statement in the middle of TDR is extremely out of place with the rest of the present d?cor.
What does American University hope to accomplish by hanging this artwork in the cafeteria? While I do not have an answer for this, I do know that the art does not welcome everyone. This university has many honorable platitudes about the need for diversity. There are at least 16 items prohibiting work like this in the university nondiscrimination policy. How can any of this be assured to protect us, however, when there is a violation of the policy? Apparently, there is a diversity of everything but thought.
This piece of art should be removed immediately. Everyone of every political persuasion should be against propaganda in TDR. There is no reason it should hang in such a prominent place. Imagine if the roles were reversed and pixelated images of former President Clinton, James Carville, or Senator Kennedy appeared in TDR instead? It would infuriate many for good reason. A great university such as AU has no place for such an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Chris Palko Public Relations Chairman, AU College Republicans
