A Visiting Art Professor Installed a Controversial 7-Foot-Tall KKK Sculpture at the University of Iowa

The art has reportedly caused one graduate student to have nightmares.

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Image via Complex Original

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To start by placing this story in context: the freshman class at the University of Iowa is 3.2 percent black, and it's the school's most diverse class since it was founded in 1847, according to University President Sally Mason. That's the kind of environment where a visiting art professor thought it was OK to install a 7-foot-tall sculpture of a KKK robe without permission.

According to The Huffington Post, students, faculty, and staff held a UI African American Council meeting last night to discuss the sculpture and to call for "progress on broader issues such as the recruitment, hiring and treatment of minority students and employees." One graduate student said that the sculpture has been giving her nightmares since it was installed last week, and an adjunct instructor shared that it "left him feeling afraid and alone, and he's since slept with chairs against the door of his home."

The Huffington Post says that the artist, Serhat Tanyolacar, made the piece to "raise awareness about racism in the United States" and that he chose to display it at UI with a camera to record reactions as a way to "show solidarity with students who have been protesting police brutality." Tanyolacar has taken to Twitter to defend himself as an artist and to issue an apology to the black community.

The school ordered the removal of the sculpture after receiving complaints, and President Mason apologized for the late response. "All of us need to work together to take preventive action and do everything we can to be sure that everyone feels welcome, respected, and protected on our campus and in our community," she said.

She also announced that the school would be meeting with concerned students and that a committee would be formed to "study changes that could include strengthening cultural competency and implicit bias training."

[via Huffington Post]

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