Mural serves as example

“…The University promotes the goal of community within a context of diversity. The University, therefore, encourages students to understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures which exists locally, nationally, and internationally…”
—University of La Verne Mission Statement

Through various activities and opportunities, a student attending the University of La Verne will be exposed to local, national and international diversity. This is not in question. This institution serves a population that is socially, ideologically and ethnically diverse. The question is, however, does this institution really promote and encourage the understanding and appreciation of that diversity? “Promote” and “encourage” are words that demand action.

The Campus Times feels that the alternate locations proposed by members of the administration for the mural by former student artists Lisa Scott and Yasuyuki Nagasawa are inadequate and defeats the goals of the Mission Statement. The Art Department building and the old gymnasium, the spaces suggested, do not provide the visibility that such a mural demands. Significantly less visible than the wall south of Dailey Theatre, which to date is still blank. The number of people who will be exposed to the image in either of these two alternative environments is small because few students and members of the ULV community visit these locations on a regular basis.

The decision to reserve the wall across from Dailey Theatre for a skyscape mural similar to the previous one does not promote the philosophies that this institution is supposed to uphold. Is the problem that the proposed mural depicts a multi-ethnic community in a positive light and that the images of the people of color are too strong for this University? The message this decision sends to the University of La Verne community is that images of birds and clouds are more important than images of diversity. The University of La Verne cannot promote and encourage cultural awareness by decreasing the visibility of an image with the potential to increase awareness and that might evoke thought and discussion. Is that not the goal of a liberal arts college?

Art has the unique ability to help people recognize beauty in what is foreign or unfamiliar to them. It is a way of seeing the world through another perspective, often very different from one’s own. But for them to recognize that beauty, the artwork must be seen. This mural should be in the center of campus.

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