Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1992)
Politics of art cause a 'Clash of Ideas' by Robert A. Hibberd Co-Editor-In-Chief ' The question of whether or not public money should pay for controversial art will be debated Tuesday, May 26 at 12:30p.m. in McLoughlin Theatre. The CCC Division of Hu manities and Social Services is bringing the issue to Clackamas. The question is, Should public "... it’s better to use public money to up hold traditions. .." -John Hooley A variety of ethnic groups performed during International Week, drawing large crowds to the CC Mall. Counseling and Career Department surprised Vince Fitzgerald to retire by Kevin Shields Staff Writer Vince Fitzgerald, the first counselor hired at Clackamas and current director of the Counsel ing and Career Department, will retire after 24 years at the end of this term. Fitzgerald’s retirement came as a surprise to many of the fac ulty members who work with and know him. Fitzgerald cited per sonal reasons for leaving his cur rent position. His wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February and his father died in April, leaving Fitzgerald with a decision in re gards to his future at Clackamas. “The combination of the two helped make my decision to re tire,” he said. Fitzgerald was hired in the second year of the college’s exis tence in 1968. His first job, which lasted four years, was as a part- time counselor/part-time Span ish instructor. He then moved to a full-time counselor position and two years ago became the Direc tor of Counseling. “Counseling was really what I wanted to do all along. Work ing with people’s self-esteem and goals in life... encouraging, sup porting and motivating their goals.” A Masters degree in Educa tion at the University of Portland and being licensed as a profes sional counselor gave Fitzgerald the background he needed to become an effective administra tor of the Counseling Departmen t. This educational background, coupled with his experience within the department, helped him de velop a more interrelated coun seling system. “It helped me create a more effective Counseling/Career Department... I brought the two departments together.” Fitzgerald’s responsibilities include overseeing career plan ning, counseling assessment and high school relations. “The integration of services and the smooth cooperation within the department is my responsibil ity,” he said. Fitzgerald’s main priority after his retirement is to spend “quality living time together” with his wife and family. He has five children and five grandchildren, with an other grandchild on the way. Different interests and hob Fitzgerald said that there were aspects of his job that he would really miss, especially the people. “The people I work with, students I assist, no question about it. From the administration to as sociates I’ve grown to really ap preciate and respect. A healthy team of people with real person alities.” Susan Reynolds, Fitzgerald’s current secretary, echoed his comments about having a good working relationship. “It’s always sad when you lose your boss, especially when you enjoy working with him. Vince is very open ...it’sanopen door policy. You can talk to him about anything.” Hie relationship with admin istrators was a good one, Fitz gerald said. He pointed out the fact that he got to know the staff real well during his tenure and he "Counseling was really what I wanted to do all along/1 -Vince Fitzgerald bies will take up a lot of his spare time. Fitzgerald has a lot of inter est in working with human serv ices, and he and his wife, who is also retiring from counseling, plan to “use their expertise in any way” to help others. Both of them en joy golf and traveling and Fitz gerald mentioned the possibility of visiting one of his five children who resides in Germany. added that they were a “real pleas ure to work with.” Even though he is retiring, Fitzgerald showed excitement concerning the future for com munity colleges and the changes that are about to take place. “I’m really excited about the new roles (for the college) because of the Educational Re form Act,” he said. money pay for controversial art? John Hooley, assistant dean, humanities, and Susanna Lund gren, art history teacher, say no, while English Instructor Kate Gray and Social Science Instructor Joe Uris say yes. The issue of public funding of the arts came into the national media spotlight when the Uni versity of Pennsylvania’s Insti tute of Contemporary Art used a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to compile a 150-piece collec tion of Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography. Mapplethorpe, who died of AIDS in 1989, made photographs that were explicitly and brutally erotic, controversial and deeply offensive to certain types. Before Mapplethorpe’s ex hibit cou Id be displayed in Corco ran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., it came under scrutiny in the Congress of the United States. Republican Senators Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Alfonse D’Amato of New York were loud in denouncing Mapplethorpe’s art Helms and D’Amato argued that, by no means, should public money be utilized to support this type of art; some of the work de picts homosexuals. At that point, the Corcoran, which relies on Congressional ap propriations for some of its fund ing, cancelled the Mapplethorpe exhibition. With the cancellation came a national debate focusing on Con gress' useoftheNEA. As Robert Brustein wrote on the op-ed page of The New York Times, “Once we allow lawmakers to become art critics, we take the first step into the world of Ayatollah Khomeini.” “Art has always been politi cal in every society,” states "yes” supporter Uris. “It’s naive to assume that art is not political and art has always been publicly supported in every society, usu ally to support the ruling elites. The only way to avoid support of the ruling elites, in a democracy, is to support art based totally on aesthetic concerns. That means that some of that art is going to offend some people some of the time.” "No" supporter Hooley feels that our society is already some what deteriorated and government supporting of controversial art only contributes to America’s problems. “I think it's better to use pub lic money to uphold traditions we have in common, rather than promote things that might be even more divisive in a society that is rapidly getting so fragmented that I’m not sure what we have left»”says Hooley. “Well, if his argument holds truth, then we ought really to be portraying rape and murder in our art,” Uris said in response toHooley’s analysis. Gray, who supports public funding, views government cen sorship of the arts as having a tre mendous affect on the way people live their lives. “The ramifications are huge. The way that we express our selves and the way that we think about our lives may change be cause of this one mandate,” ex plains Gray. “The way that the fountain gets decorated or the way the art "... censorship has ramifications on each individual." -Kate Gray is in the buildings, the way we walk through these walls and feel about ourselves may change. To me it’s astounding, the way cen sorship has ramifications on each individual.” Gray feels that it is vital for government to continue support ing the arts due to the money- orientated mentality in Ameri can culture. “There is an ethic in this country that views the artist as somehow separate from the busi- ness person and therefore not as valuable,” says Gray. “If we have this ethic, then it is impara- tive that the government fill in that gap.” The NEA is a heated issue and no one seems more prepared to discuss than Uris. “The only thing you need to know is that I’m going to kick his butt (Hooley). It’s going to be a terrible bruising to the ego. I’m not afraid that he’s my boss,” said Uris of Hooley.
