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Academic, Culture, Law

Via both BoingBoing and LanguageLog, a very disturbing story about how the Academy of Art University in San Francisco is attempting to control the content of both student’s artwork and teacher’s curriculum decisions:

The Academy of Art University here in San Francisco — the biggest art school in the country — recently expelled a student for writing a violent short story, and then fired his instructor for teaching a story by David Foster Wallace the administration also found offensive.

As this story broke in the press the school has responded by announcing stringent policies regarding the content of students’ artwork (writing, visual art, film, video game design, etc.), what can be taught in the classroom, and who is allowed to speak on campus.  This was brought home to me when an instructor at the college invited me to speak to his class (along with the fired teacher and a representative of the First Amendment Project) and I was physically barred from entering the building.

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