ACLU Responses to Art Censorship

For decades the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, maintained an art exhibition space in which the Medical Center displayed the works of local artists on a rotating basis.  This summer, the exhibition on display was entitled "Tom Gregg: Unsold - Grenades, Cute Animals and Bad Apples."  The works contained an anti-gun violence message that, based on the circumstantial evidence, seems not to have set well with the powers that be in Kansas. 

In mid-July, the Vice Chancellor responsible for the art space ordered the curator of the exhibition space to take Tom Gregg’s work down immediately, several weeks before the next exhibit was scheduled to go up.  In addition, the Vice Chancellor cancelled the Medical Center’s contract with the curator and thus erased the Medical Center’s long history of supporting local artists. 

Because the circumstantial evidence clearly points to a censorious motive in this case, the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri along with the National Coalition Against Censorship and many local artists and free speech advocates sent the Kansas Board of Regents a letter of concern on August 14, 2013.  In a letter dated August 16, the Board of Regents disavowed any responsibility for the Medical Center’s actions.  We look forward to a response from responsible officials at the Medical Center or the University.

Press Release, August 14, 2013