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I am disappointed at BYU's decision to withhold from public view the nude works of prominent artist Burton Silverman. As with Rodin's The Kiss in 1997, BYU has abdicated its public responsibility as an institution of higher learning and has designated itself a curator of public morality.
Much of the world's great religious and secular art deals with the nude human form as the ultimate work of art and an homage to God as the ultimate artist. It is fortunate that the Sistine Chapel ceiling and Michelangelo's David are in Italy, not at BYU.

Bateman responds on Rodin, By Edward L. Carter, Staff Writer

The president of Brigham Young University told students Tuesday he takes responsibility for the controversial decision to exclude four nude statues from a museum exhibit.
``In the end, a decision was taken in which I was involved and ultimately responsible for, to take those pieces out and keep them crated,'' said President Merrill J. Bateman. ``That was what we did.''A group of students staged a protest last month to show displeasure with administrators' decision to exclude four Auguste Rodin statues from an exhibit at the Museum of Art. Several students said they were as concerned with communication problems as with nude statues being kept in crates.
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Bateman said BYU made a mistake by failing to issue a formal statement about why the statues were being excluded.
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BYU as an institution and students individually need to be bold enough to stand for principles of the LDS Church even in the face of questioning from others, he said.

ludwigm wrote:[content of private message deleted]