The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art remains nearly empty Oct. 24. Censored artist Elana Mann’s vinyl collage is one of few things still on the gallery walls. Photo by Henry Adams
Andrea Gyorody, director of the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, resigned from her directorship effective Oct. 24, Gyorody confirmed to the Graphic. A University spokesperson said Gyorody and Pepperdine “mutually agreed” she would step down from her position.
Gyorody’s departure comes three weeks after Pepperdine administrators shut down the Museum’s “Hold My Hand in Yours” exhibition after censoring two pieces of art due to content deemed “political in nature.” Nearly a dozen artists withdrew from the exhibition in solidarity with the censored artists before its closure by Advancement. Since then, there has been outcry from the art community, Pepperdine faculty and students; some students demonstrated on the Freedom Wall and are currently organizing an Oct. 29 protest.
“It’s a huge loss for the Pepperdine students, other faculty members, her peers, the community at large,” said artist Elana Mann, whose video installation was censored by Pepperdine administrators. “She’s [Gyorody is] a really highly respected curator, art historian, writer, thinker — she’s one of the leaders in her field and I don’t know how they’re gonna replace her. Who would take that job knowing that what [art] you’re able to put up is very unknown?”
Andrea Gyorody, who resigned from the Weisman Museum’s directorship. Photo courtesy of Pepperdine University
Gyorody has served as the director of the Museum since Oct. 2021, according to an Aug. 2022 press release. Gyorody succeeded Michael Zakian, who died of pancreatic cancer in January 2020 after serving in the Museum director role for over 25 years, according to previous Graphic reporting.
“The University thanks Dr. Gyorody for her leadership and contributions during her tenure,” a University spokesperson said.
Prior to her time at Pepperdine, she served as an assistant curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, where an exhibition she co-curated won a 2020 Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Association of Art Museum Curators, according to her LinkedIn. She also served as an assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Under her leadership, the University received a $2.49 million grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. to support local outreach efforts and “Passages,” a five-year project at the Museum which planned to produce four art exhibitions, according to a Jan. 29 press release.
Gyorody, who also works as an adjunct Art History professor, said she will continue to teach her single “Art in the City” Art History course through the end of the semester.
Faculty and Others Respond
Several faculty in the Fine Arts Division said they were going to miss Gyorody after her departure.
“It’s absolutely devastating,” Art Professor Gretchen Batcheller said. “Andrea is excellent in everything that she does. She has elevated the status of the Weisman in her short time here.”
Art Professor Ty Pownall shared the sentiment.
“I feel awful for her and that this situation has impacted her like this,” Art Professor Ty Pownall said. “It’s a tremendous loss for the University. We are going to feel her absence for years and years and years to come.”
Between the exhibition’s shutdown and Gyorody’s departure, remaining cleanup work remained. Art handlers deinstalled the exhibition on Oct. 13, five days after University administrators officially shut it down. By Oct. 24, the galleries were mostly empty, and the Museum had shipped nearly all of the artwork back to its respective artists.
Outside the Museum, faculty across Seaver College have held several meetings to discuss the broader situation and what comes next, Batcheller said. One of those was an Oct. 15 emergency meeting held by the Seaver Faculty Senate (SFS), an outlet for Seaver faculty to express their opinions on academic and professional matters.
Chris Doran, a Religion and Sustainability professor who serves as the SFS President, led the meeting. While SFS meetings are always open for Seaver faculty to join, they don’t typically draw much attendance beyond SFS officers and divisional representatives. Over 100 Seaver faculty attended the Oct. 15 SFS meeting, Batcheller said.
During the open-comment portion of the meeting, Batcheller said faculty generally expressed “deep concern” for the censorship, Gyorody and the University’s handling of the situation.
“We are not OK,” Batcheller said.
Flowers sit in front of the Weisman Museum’s entrance Oct. 24. Since the exhibition’s closure, bouquets have been placed in front of the Museum and Gyorody’s office. Photo by Henry Adams
After days of deliberations among faculty, the Fine Arts Division released a statement through the student-run Pepperdine Studio Arts Instagram account Oct. 17. The Graphic also published the statement.
“We, the faculty of the Fine Arts Division at Seaver College, affirm our full and unwavering support for our students and their right to engage in creative inquiry without fear of censorship,” faculty wrote. “We also express our support for the artists whose work was included in Hold My Hand in Yours — particularly Elana Mann and AMBOS — whose pieces were censored, as well as for the artists who withdrew their work in solidarity.”
The Division wrote the censorship imposed by Advancement undermined Pepperdine’s Christian mission and eroded trust in the “academic process” of creating art. They also emphasized the role of the Weisman Museum as an academic space, including the student research that brought accessibility to the Museum, a contrast to the University’s recognition of the Museum as not “part of the academic enterprise,” according to previous Graphic reporting.
The student research, titled “The Art of Accessibility,” provided audio descriptions for several works in the exhibition. Batcheller, who advised the project alongside Gyorody and English Professor Chad Iwertz Duffy, said the descriptions were the product of dialogue between students in dialogue with one another. The research occurred over the course of three months last summer and was funded by the Pepperdine’s Office of Research, Grants, and Foundation Relations, which is under the Provost’s Office.
“That’s heartbreaking that their research is no longer visible in conjunction with viewing that exhibition live and in-person,” Batcheller said.
An Oct. 17 open letter published by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and co-signed by the College Art Association also criticized the University’s claim the exhibition was not “part of the academic enterprise.” The statement was drafted in collaboration with Mann and artist Natalie Godinez of the Art Made Between Opposite Sides (AMBOS) nonprofit organization, the artists said.
The letter was emailed to President Jim Gash, Provost Jay Brewster, Board of Regents member Dale Brown, Doran and Lauren Cosentino, vice president for Advancement and chief development officer.
“The administrators based their objections on their interpretation of the works as political, and concerns that the expression of political positions in the gallery would affect the non-profit status of the University,” NCAC wrote. “These concerns are misguided and untenable. Virtually every artwork on a topical subject can be interpreted as expressing a political position. Crucially, the exhibition of an object in an University museum does not mean that the University endorses the ideas it expresses any more than teaching a text in a classroom means that this text expresses the position of the University.”
The letter references the University’s explanation, reported by the Graphic, that Mann’s and AMBOS’s artwork were removed due to Pepperdine’s nonprofit status. The explanation has drawn criticism from faculty and artists alike due to the 501(c)(3) exception’s allowance of political speech so long as it doesn’t veer into political campaigning, which Mann said she believed her video installation did not do. Most museums in the U.S. operate as nonprofits, according to the American Alliance of Museums.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) added each artwork in the “Hold My Hand in Yours” exhibition to its Campus Deplatforming Database. In addition, news publications Hyperallergic and Inside Higher Ed brought further attention to the controversy through their reporting. Bill Weir (’90), CNN’s Chief Climate Correspondent and a Pepperdine alumnus, shared the Graphic’s reporting on Instagram.
A Colorful Freedom Wall Display
Around 11 p.m. on Oct. 19, four students, including senior Art major Grace Bidewell and senior Art History major Sam Backus, put up dozens of pieces of art on the Freedom Wall to protest the University’s handling of the Weisman censorship controversy. The art was created by the roughly 30 students who attended the Oct. 9 “Angry Art Night” event, which Bidewell and Backus organized.
Protest art rests on the Freedom Wall on Oct. 20. Students created the signs during the Oct. 9 “Angry Art Night” event and waited to post them until the first full week of classes afterward for increased visibility, Backus said. Photo by Henry Adams
Signs included messages such as “PEPPERDINE IS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY,” “SILENT actions have the LOUDEST CONSEQUENCES” and “LAUREN COSENTINO how does it feel to be a PUPPET?” Two students recreated the censored “ABOLISH ICE” patches from the AMBOS installation — one with the message, “Why is this offensive?” — and another painted Mann’s “Call to Arms” sculptural instrument.
“Something interesting is maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have noticed it [the “ABOLISH ICE” embroidery] if it wasn’t for the fact that it was censored because it was such a huge sculpture,” Godinez said.
Throughout the week, students and other passersby frequently stopped to view the protest art on the Freedom Wall, which has not had a major display since the 2021 abortion debate that caught the attention of news outlets including Fox News.
Several signs protested First Lady Joline Gash’s alleged involvement in the controversy, blaming Joline Gash for the censorship.
A University spokesperson confirmed Joline Gash walked through the exhibition Sept. 30, the day before Cosentino went to the Museum and directed the censorship of Mann’s video installation. The spokesperson said Joline Gash never uttered anything critical of the exhibition. The Graphic was unable to confirm whether Joline Gash played a role in influencing the censorship.
A separate controversy unfolded on the Freedom Wall after the Weisman protest art obscured dozens of fliers campaigning against California Proposition 50, a state ballot measure that would redraw California’s congressional district maps starting in 2026, according to the official state voter guide. The map is a gerrymander redistricting intended to favor Democrats in response to Republican-favored redistricting in Texas.
The flyers were placed Oct. 17 by senior Audrey Riesbeck, president of the Pepperdine College Republicans. Riesbeck said she felt the protest art’s placement was ironic and felt she was being “intentionally censored.” The Freedom Wall’s guidelines include leaving room for “others to respond or engage” ideas and not covering or removing someone else’s posts.
Protest art and flyers placed by senior Audrey Riesbeck rest on the Freedom Wall the evening of Oct. 20. Riesbeck placed more anti-Prop. 50 flyers in response to her initial ones being obscured by the protest art. Photo by Henry Adams
Backus said she wasn’t aware of what Prop. 50 was when she helped put up the protest art and did not intend to cover Riesbeck’s flyers as a way to “get back” at conservative messages. At least one “No on 50” flyer was left completely unobscured after the protest art was initially posted.
“If we’re not completely covering all of the ‘No on Issue 50s,’ then we can both be together and both share our messages at the same time,” Backus said.
In the evening of Oct. 20, Riesbeck put up more flyers advocating against Prop. 50 in response, each featuring the message “Don’t let Gavin Newsom be King” above a crossed-out crown-bearing Newsom. A piece of paper placed by someone else containing the message “Y’all do realise its a private institution right?” also appeared.
Riesbeck unobscures her initial “No on 50” flyers on the Freedom Wall on Oct. 21. The Graphic could not confirm who removed her flyers featuring Gavin Newsom. Photo by Henry Adams
At some point before noon Oct. 21, the flyers featuring Newsom disappeared. A QR code with a link to the Graphic’s initial reporting on the Weisman censorship controversy was also posted. Backus said she was not responsible for taking the posters down.
A few hours later, Riesbeck moved several of her original flyers out from underneath the protest art and posted more Newsom flyers. By morning Oct. 22, several more messages appeared, including a typed note calling Riesbeck’s complaints “ironic,” claiming a “double standard” for supporting the Trump administration, which the writer said “uses censorship as a political weapon.” Portions of a PBS article titled “Trump campaigned as a protector of free speech but critics say his actions threaten it” appeared, too.
Protest art, anti-Prop. 50 flyers and further responses rest on the Freedom Wall on Oct. 22. The Graphic could not confirm who posted the further responses, which contained a mix of anti-Trump and anti-Prop. 50 messages. Photo by Henry Adams
Roughly 10 anti-Prop. 50 flyers remained visible at the time, despite the additions to the Wall — several of which did cover Riesbeck’s flyers — and another handwritten note that criticized the Weisman censorship protesters. The end of the note read: “Do they [the art censorship protesters] care about free speech, or are they mad because of the fact they agree with the art removed?”
By the afternoon on Oct. 23, several pieces of protest art were taken down or taped below the Freedom Wall. By the afternoon on Oct. 24 — the Wall is cleared weekly on Fridays at 5 p.m. — nearly all pieces of protest art were removed.
The Next Protest
In response to University administrators censoring artwork in the Weisman Museum and in support of Gyorody, students are organizing a protest outside Elkins Auditorium the morning of Oct. 29, according to an Oct. 24 email Bidewell sent to dozens of students and faculty. Students plan to hold the same signs they created at “Angry Art Night” and posted on the Freedom Wall.
“Please join in order to not only show your support to these artists, but to represent the strength of the student body,” Bidewell wrote in the email.
The timing of the protest coincides with this semester’s All Seaver Meeting, a regular meeting that includes all Seaver faculty and staff. The meeting’s agenda includes discussion of “academic excellence,” rankings, the Great Books program and other items, according to an email Seaver Dean Lee Kats sent to Seaver faculty and staff. The Weisman censorship controversy is not listed as a topic.
The Weisman Museum stands without its “Hold My Hand in Yours” banner Oct. 16. The banner was folded up by the Museum and stored on the floor of the gallery Oct. 24. Photo by Henry Adams
Breakfast will be served in the Biggers Family Courtyard for Seaver faculty and staff at 8 a.m., according to Kats’ email. The protesters will arrive a half hour prior to the breakfast and plan to stay until 10:30 a.m., according to Bidewell’s email, which is a half hour after the All Seaver Meeting is scheduled to end.
Mann said she plans to come to the Oct. 29 protest in solidarity with Pepperdine students. As with the protests featured in the censored “Call to Arms, 2015-2025” video installation, Mann plans to document students using her modified bullhorn sculptures.
“The work [‘Call to Arms’] just increases in power and I’m gonna be honored to have the students use it in their protest,” Mann said.
Godinez, the other censored artist, said she was still figuring out whether she could come to the protest.
Remaining Questions
Several questions still remain about what’s next for the Museum in the wake of the exhibition shutdown and Gyorody’s resignation.
Because the exhibition was scheduled to last through March 29, there were no plans for any other displays before the annual senior art exhibition in April. A University spokesperson said there were no updates beyond the Graphic’s previous reporting that work was underway to explore opportunities for a new visual arts exhibition. Batcheller said Art and Art History faculty had not been made aware of any new plans.
An official “temporarily closed” sign rests on the entrance of the Museum on Oct. 24, replacing one listing the Museum’s hours. The exhibition’s web page and a University press release advertising “Hold My Hand in Yours” were both taken offline shortly after administrators shut down the exhibition. Photo by Henry Adams
In addition, Batcheller said she was still wondering what will happen to the student research that brought accessibility options to the exhibition.
“While the academic requirements of the students’ research were completed this past summer, the Provost’s Office has offered to support the presentation of the students’ project in an upcoming undergraduate research conference,” a University spokesperson said.
Batcheller said she felt administrators hadn’t been transparent with faculty throughout the aftermath. Whether the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts — which the Museum is structured under — could be switched to be under the Provost’s Office remains an ongoing conversation.
“There have been moments of genuine desire to communicate with us, specifically with the Art and Art History faculty — I do believe that that is there, and I’ve been very appreciative of that,” Batcheller said. “And there are still things that are unknowns.”
Pownall said he was hopeful that Seaver faculty would continue to be part of discussions with University administrators. Pownall and other faculty use the Museum as an educational space for their courses.
“It will be very hard to attract the same talent after this,” Pownall said. “I think artists will see the Museum differently and be weary of working with it following this situation. I’m hopeful, but [it has] yet to be seen how the administration moves forward and if it is going to evaluate how it interacts with the space.”
Pownall said he hopes University administrators stay committed to viewpoint diversity and open inquiry by ensuring students remain a consideration in the aftermath of the controversy.
“I like to work toward a brighter future,” Pownall said. “It’s my hope that we are always making the best decisions we can for our students. It is why we are all here.”
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