UNT faculty feared Wendy Red Star would cancel visit in wake of censorship scandal
Emails show a Fine Arts Series lecture by media theorist Lev Manovich was canceled without explanation this spring.
Government and Cultural Heritage
University of North Texas art faculty delayed publicizing a campus visit by MacArthur fellow Wendy Red Star this spring out of fear she would cancel over the university's censorship of an anti-ICE exhibition, records obtained by Urgent Matter show.
The emails reveal that a lecture by media theorist Lev Manovich in the university's Fine Arts Series had already been called off, and that faculty within the College of Visual Arts and Design did not know whether he had backed out in protest. Urgent Matter has reached out to UNT for additional comment.
"Do y'all think we should pause sending this until the week before, in case she cancels? I have no idea whether Lev Manovich canceled in protest or not," photography professor Paho Mann wrote to colleagues on April 9, referring to a promotional email about Red Star's visit that had been scheduled to send the next day.
"Yeah. The retraction would be pretty embarrassing...good call," Nicole Foran, chair of the Department of Studio Art, responded.
The records were released Friday in response to a request Urgent Matter filed under the Texas Public Information Act. They also show the university's art school dean privately said the administrator now serving as interim provost had warned leadership the censorship "would damage the president," Urgent Matter reported.
Paid subscribers can read the full documents.
UNT records on anti-ICE exhibition cancellation fallout
Records released on July 10, 2026, in response to Urgent Matter’s request under the Texas Public Information Act.
Adam Schrader
The university removed "Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá," an exhibition by Brooklyn artist Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez featuring sculptures critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in February. Text messages between president Harrison Keller and then-provost Michael McPherson showed the pair feared "barking from our friends in Austin" over the work, Urgent Matter previously reported.
Faculty framed Red Star's visit as an opportunity to repair the damage, records show. Mann proposed promoting the lecture to the graduate program's recruitment list days before suggesting the pause.
New UNT interim provost warned of art censorship fallout
Records released to Urgent Matter show UNT officials privately feared enrollment losses and tracked protests after censoring anti-ICE art.
Adam Schrader
"It could be a good way to build / repair our reputation," Mann wrote to Foran and sculpture professor Alicia Eggert on April 6.
The Manovich cancellation was announced by the Fine Arts Series on Instagram without explanation, according to a screenshot of the post included in the records.
"Fine Arts Series Presents: Lev Manovich has unfortunately been cancelled," the post reads. "Thank you to everyone who attended our events for the 121st season!"
The records do not show why the event was canceled, and the cancellation does not appear to have been previously reported.
A comment on the Instagram post, visible in the screenshot, captured the reputational stakes faculty were privately weighing.
"Why would any artist come and speak at UNT after censoring art? That would be a bad move on their career honestly," the commenter wrote.
Red Star, an Apsáalooke artist who received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2024 and whose work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum, was scheduled to deliver a free public lecture on April 24 as part of the college's Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Lecture Series. Graduate students could also enter a lottery for roughly 10 seats at a lunch with the artist.
The university promoted the lecture through its scheduled date, and there is no indication in the records or in public announcements that Red Star canceled.
UNT leaders feared ‘barking from Austin’ over anti-ICE art
The texts were obtained by Urgent Matter through a public records request.
Adam Schrader
Anxiety over outside perception ran through the college's handling of the press, records show. When a Dallas Observer reporter emailed faculty in March seeking interviews for a cover story on campus culture after the removal, Foran told dean Karen Hutzel she would not participate and told a colleague to decide for herself.
"I saw a story on the closure recently that had a similar approach - 'fear on campus,' I think," Hutzel responded, adding: "I also think we can look to the previous situations at Texas A&M and UT Austin, as those got lots of media press when programs, etc closed. It's a tough time in higher ed."
The Observer reported that it contacted more than 45 CVAD faculty members and that only one agreed to speak on the record.
The cancellation at UNT is one of several flashpoints over artistic and academic expression at Texas public universities documented by Urgent Matter this year.
At the University of Texas at Austin, administrators scrutinized an anti-fascist student art show.
And at Texas Tech, two academic freedom groups sued the university system over a course-content review that faculty said forced visual and performing arts professors to strip race, sexual orientation and gender identity from their classes.
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