Michael Friel, Pepperdine\u2019s senior director of Communications and Public Relations, told Hyperallergic that Gyorody and the school had \u201cmutually agreed\u201d that she would step down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe University thanks Dr. Gyorody for her leadership and contributions during her tenure,\u201d the museum said.<\/p>\n
The university had turned off Elana Mann\u2019s video \u201cCall to Arms 2015-2025<\/a>\u201d (2025), which documents 10 years of performances and protests featuring the artist\u2019s arm-shaped megaphones. Administrators also turned over a small embroidered patch reading \u201cAbolish ICE,\u201d part of the large-scale collaborative sculpture \u201cCon Nuestros Manos Construimos Deidades (With Our Hands We Build Deities)\u201d (2023) by the group Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS).<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Pepperdine\u2019s established practice with the Weisman Museum has been to avoid overtly political content consistent with the University\u2019s nonprofit status, it removed these two pieces from display,\u201d a university spokesperson told Hyperallergic at the time.<\/p>\n After the museum was shuttered, students, faculty, and alumni voiced their outrage. On Friday, October 17, faculty of the Fine Arts Division at Pepperdine\u2019s Seaver College posted a statement<\/a> affirming their \u201cfull and unwavering support for our students and their right to engage in creative inquiry without fear of censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs educators and scholars, we believe that the freedom to explore complex and challenging ideas is central to the mission of a Christian liberal arts education such as Pepperdine University,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cSuppressing artwork because it is perceived as \u2018political\u2019 undermines this mission and erodes trust in the academic process.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tThe \u201cFreedom Wall\u201d at Pepperdine University, where community members posted anti-censorship messages (photo by and courtesy Grace Bidewell)<\/p>\n On the evening of October 9, about 100 students gathered for an art night, making posters and signs which were then posted to a \u201cFreedom Wall\u201d at the school\u2019s student center.\u00a0<\/p>\n The protest art will be used again next Wednesday, October 29, in a demonstration outside the Elkins auditorium, where faculty will be meeting to discuss recent events at the museum, according to Pepperdine senior Grace Bidewell. Mann said she plans to attend with her horns to amplify the students\u2019 message.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bidewell, an art and sustainability double major, told Hyperallergic that the alteration of the artwork was at odds with Pepperdine\u2019s Christian mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t align with their beliefs as a school. Christ had the view that all beings were created equal. Having artwork that respects that view shouldn\u2019t be a problem,\u201d Bidwell said.<\/p>\n Bryan C. Keene, a third-generation Pepperdine alum who also taught art history there and had his first art world job as a museum attendant at the Weisman, echoed those sentiments in an open letter<\/a> to Pepperdine\u2019s president and board on October 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe recent censorship of artworks at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art represents a profound betrayal of Pepperdine\u2019s academic mission, its Christian values, and its stated commitment to diversity and global leadership,\u201d Keene wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also rejected the school\u2019s argument that its nonprofit status prohibited the display of artwork with political content. \u201cDisplaying an artist\u2019s work does not constitute institutional endorsement; suggesting otherwise reflects a profound misunderstanding of both art and education,\u201d Keene said.<\/p>\n Gyorody became director of the Weisman in 2021, where she organized exhibitions on artists Hildur \u00c1sgeirsd\u00f3ttir J\u00f3nsson, Jeni Spota C., Isabel Yellin, and Karl Haendel. She was previously assistant curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, where she co-curated Afterlives of the Black Atlantic<\/a>, which received a 2020 Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Association of Art Museum Curators.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a huge loss for the Pepperdine community and the larger LA art community. She\u2019s a brilliant curator, art historian, writer, and thinker,\u201d Mann told Hyperallergic. \u201cThere\u2019s a sadness amongst students and faculty, but I hope it will spark meaningful change as to who ultimately decides what will go into the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FreedomWall-1200x900.jpg\")
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