The group activity that had the biggest impact on my paper was our visit to the Hovey Murals. Before this visit, I strongly believed that the censorship of art is always incorrect. When writing my research paper and while researching, I believed that America was wrong in restricting these artists’ voices by placing requirements on them and choosing what the public would actually see.
However, my view changed after seeing and talking about the Hovey Murals. I was shocked to find out that the Hovey Murals used to be in a dining hall, where upperclassmen and professors would come often to eat. I think that was really disturbing to me, especially since the images in the mural were already so offensive.
After being in the mural room, I could understand why the college would choose to mediate the murals. They chose to mediate it as to not spread the message that the way the Native Americans were treated in the Hovey Murals is acceptable. If they let anyone view the murals, it could spread the wrong message that the murals are an acceptable way for Dartmouth students to act. However, if they did not let anyone view the murals, Dartmouth would be hiding part of its history. But because they allow this meditated viewing of the mural, they are accepting, owning up to the past, and learning from their mistakes.
After our visit, I realized that not all censorship is bad, such as with the Hovey Murals. This changed my opinion in my research paper. Instead of criticizing the censorship of art in Palo Alto or San Francisco, I shifted my focus to how the cities shape the art, instead of whether it is good or bad.