By Amanda Young, ’11, News Section Editor
“I can’t imagine that what I said was so outrageous and disgusting. I don’t understand, but I realize I was at a high school in a conservative city,” said visiting artist Duane Michals in a telephone interview with The Scroll on Saturday. The day before, Friday, Dec. 4, Mr. Michals’ lecture to the Upper School was cut short – the first time any such thing has happened in his career – due to what the administration viewed to be inappropriate jokes and profane language unsuitable for the school day.
Mr. Michals, a world-renowned 77-year-old photographer, has been taking pictures for more than 60 years and has worked as a freelance photographer for magazines such as Vogue, Esquire, Mademoiselle, and Life, working with luminaries such as Marcel Duchamp. He has published a number of books of photography and is known for his sequential images paired with text that often deal with myths and mysteries.
“I remember studying Duane Michals’ work when I was a student many years ago,” said Fine Arts Department Chair Carole Lichty-Smith, who played a key role in bringing Mr. Michals to CCDS.
The school hosted Mr. Michals as part of a Visiting Artist series sponsored by a photo grant collaboration with the University of Cincinnati. Artists are selected jointly by UC and CCDS and must be historically and contextually related to the Fine Arts curriculum. Most selected artists, including Mr. Michals, are Magnum photographers, considered to be some of the best in the world.
“Each artist fits a certain piece in the big curricular picture,” Ms. Lichty-Smith said.
Because Mr. Michals’ body of work is known to be provocative, the administration “had set guidelines and Mr. Michals had worked with us to ensure a performance that would be appropriate for the school-day setting. We had made clear that the audience was high school students and that given that he should be careful in photo selection and language,” according to Upper School Head Stephanie Luebbers.
Mr. Michals said he tried to adhere to the administration’s standards. “I actually edited my slides to take out nudity and things that might be upsetting to the school, to not upset the faculty,” he said.
All arrangements about Mr. Michals’ visit were handled through a New York City gallery. The method of communication was different than with other visiting artists who talk to CCDS directly.
“I didn’t dream we would need to censor Mr. Michals himself. He was clearly asked not to present nudity and/or suggestive topics, which the gallery agreed to honor. As it turns out, the images weren’t the cause for concern,” said Ms. Lichty-Smith.
After multiple off-color jokes, which included references to bestiality and child molestation and what Mr. Michals called a “pornographic limerick,” as well as the repeated use of profanities, Mrs. Luebbers made the decision to end Mr. Michals’ lecture – which many students were enjoying, evidenced by their raucous laughter and loud applause – early.
Ms. Lichty-Smith approached the podium while Mr. Michals was speaking, asking students to go to advisory and escorting Mr. Michals into an adjacent room. As he walked off-stage, Mr. Michals received a standing ovation from the audience.
The decision to end the assembly prematurely sparked controversy and heated discussions among the faculty and students and led to a student-created Facebook group protesting the event, “Duane Michals at CCDS,” which had 82 members as of Thursday, Dec. 10. The assembly also resulted in an explanatory e-mail to parents from Mrs. Luebbers sent on Friday, as well as two follow-up assemblies, one immediately following the incident on Friday, which was led by seniors in student government, and another this past Monday, led by Mrs. Luebbers in order to clarify her reasoning.
“I have a deep responsibility to all of the student body and their parents. While I am certain that many students have heard such humor before, I must consider that many were uncomfortable and that I needed to be the one to decide whether or not the information being conveyed was, in this particular context, educational and productive,” Mrs. Luebbers said.
Upper School physics teacher Brock Miller “thought that the jokes…were remarkably inappropriate for this audience in this place,” especially “the one regarding child abuse. In a crowd of about 250 people, old and young, there are very likely to be people who have experienced such abuse, and there is simply no way that the school should require victims to listen to jokes like that. It is completely different than having students study controversial movies or literature in a classroom setting with a teacher as a guide.”
“Maybe he crossed the line once or twice,” Will Fritz, ’11, said.
“I was stunned. The 15 minutes or so he spoke I’m fairly certain life flashed before my eyes and I was paralyzed in the moment. The message needs to have direction and purpose and be in good taste,” Ms. Lichty-Smith said of her reaction to Mr. Michals’ humor, which many have argued was unrelated to his artistic content.
However, many students and faculty members thought that it was not justifiable to end the lecture on the basis of Mr. Michals’ jokes and language, at least not without a warning to the speaker.
“I can understand where they’re coming from, but at the same time, we’re looking at it from a different perspective from them. I’m not going to lie; I’m upset. We [students] can’t really understand the obligations of the administration,” Olivia Eichenseer, ’10, said.
While Upper School History Department Chair Merle Black “thought some of his jokes [and] stories were inappropriate…the overall theme of his presentation—encouraging curiosity and affirming a life of adventure—was excellent.”
Fritz said that “nobody around [him] was offended,” and that “nobody was stopping [students] from getting up and leaving the assembly.”
“My own feeling is that it should have gone on and we should have discussed the whole presentation afterwards. The greatest thing about this school is that we are presented with ideas and we are able to discuss those ideas—they shouldn’t have stopped him,” Sebastian Koochaki, ’10, said.
Ms. Lichty-Smith said she found the assembly to be the educational opportunity of a lifetime, “just not like we anticipated.”
She continued, “Sometimes the most teachable moment comes when it’s least expected. I’ve been amazed by the insightful conversations from the students on so many levels. It’s important to feel some sort of passion and be in an environment that is willing to nurture different opinions. Much of that wouldn’t have occurred if the circumstance had been different.”
According to Mr. Black, “[Mr. Michals] said that it was the first time he had addressed a high school audience, and he admitted that he had miscalculated.”
“I believe we could have handled the situation a little better; however, he needed to cut out the crude and irrelevant jokes or exit the stage,” Mr. Black said.
Some students found Mr. Michals’ provocative use of language as complementary to his art as well as a way to capture his audience.
“With his work, a large part of it is the fact that it is so weird and out there and nothing like anything else out there. For his work to really shine, it needs an environment that’s sarcastic and abrasive and possibly offensive,” Ilana Habib, ’11, said.
“If you can’t entertain the audience, you lose the audience. He was in touch with the audience,” Fritz added.
“While he was somewhat concerned that he may have offended some ears, he declared that his role is to provoke—to grab the audience and not let them go,” Mr. Black said of a later conversation he had with Mr. Michals.
Mr. Michals himself said he was “very impressed” with the student body. Before and after his lecture, he spent time on campus working with arts students, critiquing their work and sharing insight.
“I thought they were amazing. They all came alive. I was so heartened to see young kids have so much energy and passion and take a stand,” he said. “I wished we would have gotten to the question-and-answer period. They were such an alert crowd. I was looking forward to getting their response after the presentation.”
While there are many different points of view about how the assembly was dealt with, many in the CCDS Upper School feel it could have been conducted in a way that was more respectful of Mr. Michals.
“Given the administration’s position, they should have first, warned him, and then taken him off the stage if he didn’t change the act,” Koochaki stated.
“I think it would be appropriate for the administration to apologize,” Habib said.
Mr. Miller said that “Mrs. Luebbers has indicated that in retrospect she might have handled [the ending of the assembly] a bit differently, and I agree with her on that, but at the time I certainly didn’t have a clue regarding how to end it gracefully.”
On his trip to Cincinnati, Mr. Michals spoke at UC the night before his lecture at CCDS; went to dinner with selected students and faculty and Mrs. Luebbers at Embers the night after the lecture; and worked with photography students.
“Mr. Michals spent a considerable amount of time with photo students looking at their work and giving thoughtful feedback. This doesn’t happen often with visiting artists. Mr. Michals took the time to really care about student work,” Ms. Lichty-Smith said.
“I hope people keep in mind how much they liked [Mr. Michals] the next time we have an arts assembly. I think they’d appreciate photography more,” said Habib, an AP photography student.