Penn State University’s president has reversed the decision of the School of Visual Arts director Charles Garoian to censor an art exhibit criticizing Palestinian terrorism: Penn State President Blocks Art Censorship. (Hat tip: Doss.)

And I’m quite certain the only reason they did so was because of the harsh light of publicity and the outcry in the blogosphere, begun here at LGF.

The president of Pennsylvania State University has overturned a decision by its School of Visual Arts to call off a student art exhibit that criticizes Palestinian terrorist groups.

The director of the school, Charles Garoian, called off the show days before it was to have started, saying that it did not promote diversity and that it might violate Penn State’s regulations against harassment and discrimination. After several days of campus debate, during which Hillel reported receiving anti-Semitic phone calls, President Graham Spanier told the Faculty Senate this week that the exhibit would take place.

In an e-mail interview, Spanier said: “Penn State does not and will not censor artwork. I wanted to make this perfectly clear to everyone. Crossing that line would compromise so many of the fundamental values of academe.”

While the student, Joshua Stulman, is pleased that he will be able to show his work, he remains angry that the head of an academic division tried to block his work because of its content. The director of the Penn State Hillel, while praising Spanier for intervening, is also demanding a public apology for what has happened, saying that the art school’s conduct was “pathetic and morally repugnant.”

Muslim students at the school, unsurprisingly, are seething. Josh Stulman’s art exhibit is apparently humiliating to every Muslim in the world.

The comments about Hillel, then reported in the Penn State area, led to a series of anti-Semitic phone calls to Hillel and its executive director, Tuvia Abramson. He said he has been receiving harassing calls along the lines of “can’t you Jews follow the rules?” Abramson said that the art school has tried to scapegoat Hillel. He also noted that he has still not seen the paintings Stulman can now show, and that Hillel supports Jewish students with a range of views about Israel and other issues.

Garoian did not respond to requests to talk for this article. Some letter writers to The Daily Collegian, the student paper, backed his decision. Aqsa Ahmad, a junior at Penn State, wrote: “The whole idea of free speech is understandable, BUT when it comes to hurting or poking fun of another religion, discrimination and hate come into play. Stulman’s exhibit may have been directed toward Palestinians, but because Islam promotes the idea that everyone is each other’s sister or brother, all Muslims become victims of this propaganda.”

I’ve communicated an offer to Joshua Stulman to host his exhibit here at LGF, but he replied that most of it is not yet in digital form.