UPDATE: As the story develops, the young art student has claimed that the piece is not "performance art" but perfectly real. Yale, for it's part, is claiming that her denial is part of the performance and that she told them she would deny it if they exposed the piece. For my money, I still think it's a hoax, especially since her thesis adviser refuses to comment.
Either way, it is an unbelievably tasteless stunt for a revered institution such as Yale to be party to. By supporting an endeavor like this, whether real or a performance, Yale has removed all doubt that they have completely broken ties with the Christian origins which made the Ivy League the haven for intellectual excellence it had been. We'll see how long that reputation lasts.
Events at Yale this week make it easy to sympathize with King Solomon. Reflecting on a long, productive life, the king spake thus:
I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
Yale, one of our nation's oldest and proudest institutions of higher learning was founded in 1701 to be a place “wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts and Sciences [and] through the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church and Civil State.” (from the Yale Charter). A mere 207 years later, a student is making her senior art project out of the remains of babies which she conceived and aborted herself. This also is vanity. Perhaps King Solomon understates the case. [Continue reading . . . »]