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Vermont Law and Graduate School is embroiled in a fight about a pair of murals in the student center that depict slavery, The New York Times reported.
Painted 30 years ago by a white artist, Sam Kerson, the two 24-foot-long murals show scenes of a slave market and a white man wielding a whip, as well as images of white Vermonters helping enslaved people escape on the Underground Railroad.
Students complained for years that the colorful panels were full of racist caricatures. But it wasn’t until police murdered George Floyd in 2020 that the institution finally decided they had to be removed.
It proved harder than expected. The murals couldn’t be taken down without destroying them, and Kerson sued to stop administrators from permanently covering them under an obscure law that prevents certain “modifications” of artists’ work, according to the Times.
After winding its way through the courts for two years, the lawsuit landed before a New York appeals court last month; the two sides presented their arguments on Jan. 27.
Until the case is resolved, the paintings will remain covered with white panels hung just about the surface to avoid damaging them.
