Rutgers Removes 'Art' Installation ofJesus Nailed to Dart Board

Ah, the artistic originality that exudes from students these days.

4.28.2016

What passes for art these days.

Rutgers University displayed a controversial "art" installment depicting Jesus pinned to a dart board with darts, but was ultimately removed it to a less prominent place in the exhibit after numerous complaints were lodged.

The installment featured a crucified Jesus stabbed with four darts and was displayed in an exhibit in the Art Library on Voorhees Mall at the school's New Brunswick campus. NJ.com reports:

Some Rutgers students and alumni turned to Facebook to post photos of the art piece, called "Vitruvian Man," and demand it be taken down.

"It is surprising that a state university would allow this. I asked them to take it down because I found it disrespectful and they refused," Rutgers alumnae Natalie Caruso, of Elmwood Park, said Wedensday in a Facebook post on the Rutgers University Class of 2016 page that drew hundreds of comments and shares.

Other commenters defended the piece and the university's right to display it.

"It's art, it's an important statement. Also it's hilarious. We don't have to cater to the wills of the Church or any denomination of Christianity or religion," Joe Buchoff, a Rutgers student, wrote on Facebook.

Please, Joe, do remember that the next time you're expected to cater to the will of Islam. Christians and Christianity are today's easy target for so-called intellectuals and artists. We all know full well that few if any would dare do this with an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Campus officials moved the installment on Thursday, according to the report, to a less prominent spot in the exhibit area, but eventually removed it all together.

"The artwork in question was removed from the exhibit because it did not meet Rutgers University Libraries policy, which requires art exhibitions and their pieces to be based on university events, curricular offerings and topics of interest to the university community," said Jessica Pellien, director of communications at Rutgers University Libraries.

Does someone have the right to place a crucifix on a dart board, or in a jar of urine, and try to pass it off as art? Sure. It's lowbrow and created without thought or originality, but people are free to be stupid. That's why America's First Amendment is the greatest free speech-protective in the world.