USM removes cop killer's exhibit

USM president's remarks on pulling Manning exhibit

Good afternoon:

I'm here to share with you the news that the exhibit "Can't Jail the Spirit: Art by 'Political Prisoner' Tom Manning and Others," will be closed effective the end of business today, Friday, Sept. 8, and will be taken down.

I would like to offer several points related to this decision, but before doing so I want to reaffirm the University of Southern Maine's long-standing commitment to free speech and our intent to serve as a neutral forum for the expression and discussion of ideas - a mission of every university.

Why, then, the decision to close this exhibit? There are two fundamental reasons.

1. The purpose behind this exhibit was to initiate a discussion on the definition of the term political prisoner, and to encourage an examination of the nature of political dissent in a modern society. It has become increasingly clear that any reasoned discussion of ideas has been overshadowed completely by Mr. Manning's and Mr. Levasseur's criminal acts, and the pain and suffering they caused.İPut another way, their backgrounds have impacted the exhibit to the point where the exhibit itself, and the purpose behind it, have become misunderstood and needlessly divisive. What was to be a forum has become a battleground. Academic freedom is a precious part of university culture but it is not being served by the current situation.

2. I've become alarmed about the increasingly intense criticisms leveled at this university and members of our staff, some of whom feel threatened. Our people have acted in good faith, but significant mistakes were made, and lessons have been learned. We just did not do our homework. I also want to stress that the law enforcement community has been very blunt and candid in expressing its concerns, but civil.

Where do we go from here?

As part of the exhibit, we scheduled an October symposium to discuss political prisoners and political dissent. That symposium will be held, but first I will ask the Faculty Senate to appoint a faculty work group and ask its members to create a format such that the symposium reflects what a university should do, and what we intended to do: Provide a rich, broad dialogue on important issues in a neutral forum with all viewpoints represented.

Lost in this controversy is the fact that the exhibit also presents six works by students in an introductory sculpture class. They were assigned to create works which address political speech, freedom of expression and issues of power and powerlessness. In describing the results, professor of art Michael Shaughnessy clearly stressed, "Neither faculty nor students condone any act of violence nor any of Tom Manning's political actions and, in fact, question the contentions that his imprisonment is due to political beliefs." This statement was part of the exhibit. Although this exhibit will be closed, the student artwork will be displayed later in the semester in a different format.

Finally, on behalf of the University of Southern Maine, I want to apologize to the people of Maine and elsewhere for the fact that we did not understand earlier the criminal acts associated with this exhibit, nor the sense of outrage and depth of personal pain they generated. For that I am sorry.

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The University of Southern Maine is taking down a controversial exhibit of paintings done by a man serving life in prison for killing a police officer.

President Richard Pattenaude apologized Friday for the university's mishandling of the exhibit, especially for calling the artist, Thomas Manning, a political prisoner in promotional materials. He said the school intended to provoke a reasoned discussion about political prisoners, but such a dialogue was made impossible because of the anger and pain the exhibit stirred up this week.

"We lost that opportunity because we made mistakes in how we organized it and structured it," Pattenaude said. "We owe the state of Maine an apology for not doing our homework on the issue."

The decision was welcomed by police officers, who said the exhibit and promotional materials did not include the whole truth about Manning, and that calling him a political prisoner disrespected his victims. Police organizations around Maine and in other states planned to demonstrate on the university's campus next week.

Others, including some students and organizers of the exhibit, said Pattenaude's decision is a suppression of free speech and evidence that the police state's control extends even to universities and campus art displays. It's another example of the repression of political prisoners, they said.

Pattenaude held an afternoon news conference to announce his decision. Manning's paintings were to be taken off the Woodbury Campus Center walls Friday evening, he said. Student artwork - including sculptures offering messages about free speech and censorship - also was part of the exhibit. Those pieces were to be taken down and displayed later in a different context, Pattenaude said.

A symposium planned for Oct. 4 to discuss Manning's art and such issues as political prisoners and political repression will be reorganized and rescheduled, Pattenaude said.

The news conference itself turned into a spontaneous debate about freedom of speech when students and organizers of the exhibit questioned Pattenaude's decision.

"What lessons do you think the students will learn from this?" said Marie Follayttar, a student whose artwork was part of the exhibit. She had suspended a pair of pants made of American flags high on the campus center wall, beneath the word "Intolerable."

Jonah Fertig, a member of the Portland Victory Garden Project, the group that organized the exhibit, held up a sign as Pattenaude spoke. It said: "USM suppresses Free Speech."

"Whether you consider him a political prisoner or not, you are censoring his work," Fertig told Pattenaude.

"I deeply believe in free speech," Pattenaude replied. As university president, as well as a Vietnam veteran and political science professor, he said, the decision was difficult and painful, but best for the university.

"The reaction to the art was going to make us concerned about the security of the institution," he said. "We're a neutral forum where reasoned discussion takes place. I don't believe we can have a reasoned discussion right now under these conditions."

Pattenaude vowed to create a new forum for a discussion about political prisoners and freedom of speech, and said all viewpoints will be welcome.

Dan Chard, a student who helped organize the exhibit, said after the news conference that the university's decision in the face of pressure from police organizations simply underscores the purpose of the exhibit. "It's a matter of power. The people don't have power and the police do. The state does," he said.

James Fahey, a South Portland police officer and vice president of the Maine Association of Police, said he wished student artwork hadn't been affected, but he was personally glad Manning's paintings would be taken down. "I've seen his work," he said. "I've seen photos of the crime scenes."

But Fahey said the protests planned by the Maine Association of Police and the Maine State Troopers Association were intended to provide the rest of the story about Manning, not to limit anyone's free speech.

"We never asked that the show be shut down. We were just offended about the description 'political prisoner,'İ" he said. "The debate is healthy and I hope it continues."

The protests by police reached as far as New Jersey, where Manning shot and killed Trooper Philip Lamonaco in December 1981. Police officers there and Lamonaco's widow, Donna, were planning to join protests at the campus next week.

Lamonaco is still expected to come to Portland, but instead of a protest will attend a benefit to raise money for the family of a New York police officer killed recently, Fahey said.

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