College Bans Photo of Cigar Smoking Prof

[coocooforroo]

I hope they have no photos of Churchill, Freud, Twain, etc.

College removes artwork of smoking instructor

January 26, 2010 9:48 PM

Laura Oleniacz

Sun Journal Staff

Students in Craven Community College’s auto body program airbrushed the hood of a 1982 Mercury Capri drag racing car with a portrait of automotive instructor Robert Hall gripping a wrench in each hand of his crossed arms.

The vibrant airbrushed image, which has been hanging in the hallway of the Student Center on the New Bern campus, also shows him smoking a cigar. But its an image college officials say does not go with the campus smoking policy, which has caused it to be removed and some students to be upset.

The car has been rebuilt by students in Hall’s automotive systems technology program in class and in their free time so it can be raced by Hall and other college instructors at the New Bern Motor Sports Park. The car has one hood for show, and another that is fit for racing.

Hall typically has a cigar while he’s at the sports park, one student said, so he was depicted in his portrait with a burning cigar at his lips.

But Hall was asked to take down the work this week because college officials felt the image might give a mixed message to students, staff and visitors about smoking.

“I think (the drag racing car) has been a positive project both for our automotive students and our auto body students,” said Sandy Wall, the college’s public information officer. “(But) I think the depiction of a faculty member or anyone else smoking sends a message that we don’t want to send.”

The college’s Board of Trustees has taken a clear stance against smoking on campus, Wall said. The trustees asked college officials to provide information on smoking cessation programs to students, staff and visitors, and the image was not in line with that request, he said.

The trustees put a policy in place that took effect Aug. 19, 2009, that forbade the use of tobacco products by students, staff, faculty and visitors in all campus buildings, facilities, property or vehicles owned or leased by the college as well as on the grounds.

The policy was amended earlier this month to allow smoking in certain designated sites on the New Bern and Havelock campuses and in personal vehicles. Trustees also asked that the college provide information about “free accessible tobacco treatment programs” to help smokers quit the habit if they want to.

The policy was changed because it had created a problem of smokers lighting up along the roads and in the woods surrounding the campus.

“We had just been through a long, lengthy discussion with the trustees revisiting this issue, and they had made clear that they wanted an educational component with any changes they would make to the policy, and (the image) did not fall in line with that,” Wall said.

Several students in the college’s automotive programs say they felt the image should have been left up, since it is the product of many hours of hard work.

The car was given to Hall three to four years ago by a student. There have been 60 to 70 students who have helped rebuild it over the years, helping to strip it down and install a 12-point roll cage, a new suspension system and a new engine. Hall said they’ve also gotten experience working with the car’s computer-controlled engine, tracking the car’s fuel gauges using laptop computers.

Hall said he’s used his own money to buy the parts for the car, as he believes the ongoing project is great hands-on experience. It keeps the students engaged and out of trouble.

“They literally get a chance to work on it at the track,” Hall said. “It just kind of gave them a family type of atmosphere and a teamwork type atmosphere.”

Anthony Powers, a student in the college’s auto body repair program and a graduate of the automotive systems technology program, said he felt that the image should not have been taken down.

Powers said he worked for more than 50 hours in the spring semester of last year stripping and priming the car hood. He is now helping to rebuild the car’s engine.

“We felt it was a violation of our rights,” he said. “It was showing our contribution to society and the community.”

Michael Ebert, a student in his second year of the automotive systems technology program, helped make a wooden frame out of rough cut lumber for the hood last semester.

“It was just something we did out of our free will for Mr. Bob and the college,” he said. “It’s kind of offensive to the automotive program (to have the image removed.) It just feels like they’re trying to step on our toes all the time.”Link to Article

[matthew261]

So now not only is smoking banned, but caricature representations of smoking is banned. What if they depicted the instructor with a dreamcloud above his head imagining that he was smoking while living in a free country?

[anacostiakat]

So now not only is smoking banned, but caricature representations of smoking is banned. What if they depicted the instructor with a dreamcloud above his head imagining that he was smoking while living in a free country?

That would be banned too.

[Stormin691]

So now not only is smoking banned, but caricature representations of smoking is banned. What if they depicted the instructor with a dreamcloud above his head imagining that he was smoking while living in a free country?

UNBELIEVABLE.... Matt couldnt of put it better myself....

[Jesuscookies]

It's a good thing we have safe havens like FOH where we are free to express ourselves openly, and without fear of being censored. This is really too bad for a university where they are supposed to promote thinking for ones self. And to those students who put so much into a work of art.

SUCK IT!!!!!!!!!!! That is whoever edited my post

Get a grip people, honestly. This is so politically retarded, it is beyond stupid.

[Jimmy2]

Liberals !!!

[Buch0]

So now not only is smoking banned, but caricature representations of smoking is banned. What if they depicted the instructor with a dreamcloud above his head imagining that he was smoking while living in a free country?

Great point mate.

I agree that things have gotten far out of hand in regards to this but I see nothing changing for the better to be honest.

[android]

So now not only is smoking banned, but caricature representations of smoking is banned. What if they depicted the instructor with a dreamcloud above his head imagining that he was smoking while living in a free country?

No dreaming allowed!!!

[dicko]

ridiculous!! I might just move into my sanitized bubble right now

[dicko]

It's a good thing we have safe havens like FOH where we are free to express ourselves openly, and without fear of being censored. This is really too bad for a university where they are supposed to promote thinking for ones self. And to those students who put so much into a work of art.

SUCK IT!!!!!!!!!!! That is whoever edited my post

Get a grip people, honestly. This is so politically retarded, it is beyond stupid.

completely agree. I think a lot of people in universities have a lot of contradictions in their philosophies. I have classmates who bang on about people starving in africa etc but you think they will stop and say hello to the person sitting next to them who aren't in their little cliche... Lecturers who speak of globalism and international community who never drift outside their commute from their leafy suburb to the uni...

[samb]

completely agree. I think a lot of people in universities have a lot of contradictions in their philosophies. I have classmates who bang on about people starving in africa etc but you think they will stop and say hello to the person sitting next to them who aren't in their little cliche... Lecturers who speak of globalism and international community who never drift outside their commute from their leafy suburb to the uni...

Or how the culture and academia get flushed away from the minds of students through drinking sub-standard beer through funnels and hoses, bootie dancing, and promiscuity? .

Hipocrites, all of the bastids!!

[stargazer14]

"I think the depiction of a faculty member or anyone else smoking sends a message that we don’t want to send.”

But the message that it is justified to rework creative pieces to reflect current PC motives is OK.

"Political correctness is an attempt to change truth. Those who don't like truth will always choose to take offense when it is spoken."

[samb]

"Political correctness is an attempt to change truth. Those who don't like truth will always choose to take offense when it is spoken."

Not to get too off topic here, (and I despise the PC bullshit and dont get offended too easily) but is this quote saying there is "truth" in such things as racial slurs, handicaps, etc...? Or is it just a general statement, that merely means that they are in fact midgets?