(no subject)

[summercomfort]

wooo... embed your LJ in your aim profile, how cool is that? http://www.huplus.com/RSSAim/ (now that I've switched back to deadAIM, I get a profile again! Which means I should update it....)

Also for those in the Bay Area, how's the Academy of Art banning thing going? ::hums 1776::

Aaargh, this 4 people away from the 10% discount for Acen thing is like Aaaargh. Oh well.

Comments

[conejita.livejournal.com]

nyo? who's banning Academy of Art? why?
::curiousity antennae up::

From Neil's blog a few days back...

[summercomfort]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/officialgaiman/108822.html

Hello all,
First of all let me apologize for the mass e-mail, but as some of you know there's been something going on that's a cause for concern. 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 (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/25/MNGI85QTK11.DTL) 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.

Obviously this is creepy and idiotic, and the First Amendment Project is (as usual) doing a bang-up job bringing these issues to the public. I'd love to add your name - and the names of anyone you forward this to - to a growing list of people who want this kind of nonsense to stop. On Wednesday, an instructor is inviting a horde of artists to speak on free expression, and we'll be presenting a list to the Academy saying "We support free expression and oppose the misguided policies you have recently adopted regarding what can and cannot be expressed at your institution." If you live in the Bay Area, and would like to come down, that'd be great, but in any case, I'd love it if you just hit the reply button so we can put your name below that statement.


Thanks,
Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket)