RPI recently came under national attention after shutting down the “Virtual Jihadi” video game exhibit from digital media artist Wafaa Bilal, leading students and faculty to question the state of academic freedom and free speech at the Institute.
Beginning on Thursday, March 6, Bilal presented the video game along with a lecture, sponsored by the RPI Arts Department and as a part of the iEAR Presents! performance series.
Bilal adapted the game from a popular American video game called “Quest for Saddam,” in which the player hunts down and fights Iraqi forces. Islamic extremists later rewrote this game so that players hunted down U.S. President George W. Bush. Bilal then co-opted the game, inserting a character based on himself into the game as the “virtual jihadi” whose brother is killed in the Iraq War and is recruited by al-Qaeda to join the hunt for Bush. The controversial topic raised concerns about security surrounding the artist’s visit.
Hearing these concerns on March 5, Provost Robert E. Palazzo and Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President for Policy and Planning Laban Coblentz asked to speak with the visiting artist about the exhibit. Palazzo and Coblentz went to the West Hall auditorium where a class was working on a podcast with Bilal.
Palazzo and Coblentz spoke to Bilal regarding the exhibit, specifically asking whether the game is derived from the product of a terrorist organization and whether it involves the simulation of assassinating Bush, according to Palazzo—the answer to both of which were yes.
Coblentz remarked that the conversation was “perfectly congenial,” and that the administration decided to allow the event to proceed as planned and to view the exhibit as well as watch the video game in an attempt to understand the presentation better. The game was projected on a giant screen so that one viewer could play at a time in West Hall for Thursday night; however, the administration decided to close the exhibit the following day to discuss whether or not the event should continue.
Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations William Walker stated that the Institute needed time to examine the origin, content and intent of the exhibit.
The administration decided on Monday not to let the exhibit reopen “based on numerous concerns, including, in particular two characteristics of the video game in the exhibit, as affirmed by the artist,” according to an e-mail sent out by Walker. “First, that the video game in the exhibit is derived from the product of a terrorist organization; and second, that the video game is targeted to and suggests the killing of the President of the United States.”
Walker further stated in the e-mail that “Rensselaer fully supports academic and artistic freedom,” but that “as stewards of a private university, we have the right and, indeed, the responsibility to ensure that university resources are used in ways that are in the overall best interests of the institution.”
Coblentz commented that part of the decision was also based on the context of the video game if played without hearing the lecture. “We can’t put a disclaimer on the exhibit and can’t monitor it,” he said.
The decision boiled down to whether or not to use Institute resources for the exhibit and not whether the game should or should not be presented, according to Walker. “The decision was not meant to censor [Bilal] and we did not say he shouldn’t present his work; however, we felt that we shouldn’t be devoting Institute resources to it,” he said.
Bilal stated on his website that, “The RPI official press release claims to support freedom of speech and my perspective; yet RPI is still suspending the show. The so-called “suspension” is a delay tactic to close down potential dialogue, which constitutes censorship.”
After RPI closed it, the exhibit had moved to a Sixth Avenue site hosted by the Sanctuary for Independent Media. On Monday night, the exhibit drew 75 to 100 people, opponents and supporters, who stood outside the building; however, by the next morning, the city shuttered the building for code violations.
On Tuesday evening, members of the RPI, Troy, and capital district communities gathered to protest the shutting down of the exhibit in front of Troy City Hall.
Students also voiced concerns about the administration’s decision and freedom of speech at the Spring 2008 Town Meeting on Monday afternoon.
“The administration has stated multiple times that Rensselaer fully supports academic and artistic freedom, and to me, this would seem to suggest that full freedom of expression, including thought-provoking and possibly controversial expression, is in the institute’s best interests as a center of higher education,” said Michael Kimball ’09. “Yet, when they shut down Mr. Bilal’s exhibit to “ensure that university resources are used in ways that are in the overall best interests of the institution,” they appear to contradict themselves.”
There is currently no process in place at the Institute through which the arts department must vet its choices of visiting artists and exhibits through the administration; however, Vice President for Student Life Eddie Ade Knowles has been asked to be part of a task force to decide on an appropriate way to review such programs in the future.
“We see this as an important outcome of the incident and it gives the campus the opportunity to discuss how to approach art in the 21st century,” said Knowles. He added that in addition to forums, he is also looking into focus groups for ideas on how to approach the reviewing process.
