Polk State College: Professor鈥檚 Provocative Political Artwork Barred from Faculty Art Exhibition
Cases
Polk State College
Case Overview
In early January 2018, Polk State College requested that all faculty members from its arts program submit artwork for an exhibition to be held the next month. Part-time faculty member Serhat Tanyolacar submitted his piece, 鈥淒eath of Innocence,鈥 which juxtaposed images of several well-known poets and writers with a number of graphic iterations of President Donald Trump and other political figures engaging in sexual activity. On February 6, Program Coordinator Nancy Lozell informed Tanyolacar that his submitted artwork would be 鈥渢oo controversial to display at this time鈥 because high school students who take classes at Polk State鈥檚 campus might see it. FIREand the National Coalition Against Censorship sent a letter on February 14 warning Polk State against restricting the display of artwork deemed 鈥渢oo controversial,鈥 and asked the college to reassess Tanyolacar鈥檚 artwork in a viewpoint-neutral manner. Polk State failed to respond to 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 letter, but records released by the college in response to a public records request showed that it sought law enforcement to review Tanyolacar鈥檚 artwork.