[Art-instructors] 2/16/22 Zoombombing Response - Department of Art

[Jeff Beekman]

Hi All,

Please see the below message from Lilian:

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Dear Department of Art,



The Department of Art is currently investigating and responding to a “Zoombombing” incident that occurred last night during our online visiting artist talk by Dawit Petros at which time intruders used racial slurs, blasted music, and shared other objectionable material. Our CFA faculty hosts displayed the utmost professionalism, responding by ending the call promptly and sending out a new meeting link as soon as possible. The talk continued successfully, with the majority of participants re-joining. While the attacker’s success in interrupting our session may have involved a great deal of luck on their part, we must ensure that we are doing all we can to conduct our Zoom sessions in such a way that will prevent this from happening again.


We want to acknowledge both the professionalism of faculty in dealing with the situation, and the absolute generosity of Dawit Petros in not only continuing the lecture, but also his refusal to allow the heckler's behavior to define the night. An incident like this highlights the importance of confronting the enduring legacies of colonial, misogynistic, and imperialist racisms.


It is important that as a department, we continue to affirm our values of respect, civility, diversity, and inclusion. As such, all Departmental Zoom events will utilize the tips to secure Zoom meetings<https://its.fsu.edu/article/tips-secure-zoom-meetings> in order to increase the number of virtual safeguards available to prevent these offensive confrontations from occurring again.



Thank you for your assistance and commitment to making changes that promote the well-being of all our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.



Sincerely,

Lilian



Lilian Garcia-Roig

Professor and Chair

Department of Art

Florida State University

lgarciaroig at fsu.edu<mailto:lgarciaroig at fsu.edu>

she/her/ella


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