Florida College Asked Local Sheriff To Declare Faculty Member's Artwork Obscene

Free Speech

from the christ-what-a-bunch-of-officious-assholes dept

Cops may not know art, but they know what they don’t like. Blowing past the First Amendment to give their official opinion on art critical of law enforcement is never an acceptable “solution,” but it’s one that happens nonetheless.

Last year, a high school decided it would rather demonstrate its subservience to local law enforcement than stand behind its students and their First Amendment rights. Photos of a painting of a cop in Ku Klux Klan hood pointing a gun at a black child appeared in the school newspaper. Instead of running the article, a teacher ran down to the cop shop to offer a profuse apology on behalf of “99.9% of the teachers at the school.” Returning to school with the aftertaste of boot polish still lingering in his mouth, he engaged a full-on tongue kiss with the town’s mayor, who offered his own profuse (and cowardly) apology to the offended police department.

Now, as Sarah McLaughlin of FIRE reports, another institute of learning has decided the best approach to controversial artwork is to display its soft underbelly to law enforcement as quickly as possible. A faculty member’s artwork was deemed “controversial.” This is an unsurprising development. Controversy and artwork have enjoyed a long and healthy relationship for many, many years.

What is surprising is the university’s reaction to the controversial artwork. Faculty member Serhat Tanyolacar’s submission was met with a whole lot of resistance from Polk State (Florida) itself due to its subject matter.

Tanyolacar’s piece, “Death of Innocence,” depicts several poets and writers juxtaposed with a number of altered images of President Donald Trump and other political figures engaging in sexual activity. According to Tanyolacar, the work is meant to highlight “moral corruption and moral dichotomy” and provoke debate.

Polk State Program Coordinator Nancy Lozell informed Tanyolacar on Feb. 6 that it would not be displayed at a then-upcoming faculty art exhibition because the college “offers classes and volunteer opportunities to our collegiate charter high schools and other high schools in Polk county and we feel that that particular piece would be too controversial to display at this time.”

The university refused to offer any justification for this move when asked to explain its ignorance of the First Amendment by FIRE. It also refused to provide an answer as to when the artwork would be exactly controversial enough to be put on display.

But it gets a whole lot weirder and scarier and stupider. Documents obtained via public records requests show school officials decided to get local law enforcement involved in its First Amendment altercation. For reasons only known to the school (but reasons that certainly appear to be vindictive), the school asked the Polk County Sheriff (rather infamous around these parts) and the county district attorney to hand down an ad hoc obscenity ruling. This is part of the letter sent to the school’s president by the school’s attorney, discussing the “solid ground” the university would be on if it chose to keep censoring Tanyolcar’s art.

Earlier this week, we understand that you and several other College administrators met with the Polk County Sheriff and an Assistant State Attorney for the Tenth Judicial Circuit to discuss the Work. We understand that both the Sheriff and the Assistant State Attorney have stated that they view the Work to be obscene material and that they intend to enforce Florida’s obscenity statute in the event that the Work is displayed to the general public without restriction.

Without question, the Work is an overt depiction of sex acts being committed by national politicians, including the President of the United States. Art is often in the of the beholder, but, as Justice Potter is known for saying, “I know [obscene material] when I see it.” Jacobellis v. State of Ohio, 378 US. 184, 197 (1964)(Potter, J., concurring). You are certainly entitled to rely upon the wisdom and advice of the County Sheriff and the State Attorney’s Office in determining if the local Polk County community would view the Work as obscene material. Given that law enforcement has opined that the Work is obscene, we feel constrained to advise you of the same.

Not only did the school approach law enforcement to get clearance to bury this artwork, it also received assurances the Polk County Sheriff’s Department would arrest someone (probably the artist) if the work was displayed publicly.

It’s difficult to express just how fucked up this is. Rather than support a faculty member’s protected expression, the university went out of its way to find some way to punish him for creating it. It wasn’t enough for Polk State to simply reject his submission and deal with the inevitable — and accurate — accusations of censorship. No, it had to go to one of the lousiest sheriff’s departments in the country and ask for assurances someone would be rung up on obscenity charges should the blow-back force release of Tanyolacar’s creation.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, art, florida, grady judd, nancy lozell, obscenity, police, polk county, serhat tanyolacar
Companies: polk state