On Tuesday, around 70 Rhode Island School of Design students staged a demonstration outside the school’s administrative offices, protesting the administration’s decision to relocate a pro-Palestine art exhibition. The Brown Daily Herald first reported news of the protest.
The RISD show, “To Every Orange Tree,” opened March 17 at Carr Haus Cafe, a student-run space on campus. It was a joint effort between the cafe and RISD Students for Justice in Palestine (RSJP) The imagery installed in the cafe was focused on anti-imperialism and Palestinian liberation. (RISD and Brown’s Providence campuses are adjacent.)
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On March 25, RISD officials requested the exhibition’s removal, citing threats directed at school leadership, including a demand for the names of student participants and online demands for the school to be reviewed. The school claimed that the request was made because of safety concerns.
RISD offered to relocate the exhibition to a restricted-access space in the Prov-Wash building. RSJP declined, arguing the change would make the show less visible.
RSJP has demanded the exhibition be reinstated in its original location. The group is also calling on the administration to prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement from campus and to safeguard community members’ records and legal status. It’s unclear whether RISD president Crystal Williams will meet with students to discuss a rejected proposal that would see the school cut ties with any companies connected to Israel.
Prior to the exhibition’s installation, in an interview with ARTnews, RSJP member Jo Ouyang, an undergraduate student, said that after a group of student activists occupied a building on campus in May, RSJP had refocused on community-oriented programs, putting aside efforts to challenge the divestment decision. A formal procedure for appeals and proposals related to the divestment of the school’s endowment does not exist in RISD’s governance procedures, according to Ouyang.
RISD maintains that even though the show was relocated the exhibition, the school has still upheld standards guiding freedom of expression. The art on view has been removed from its original site and secured off-campus. In its place, protest signage now lines Carr Haus’s walls.