Encouraged that reason has prevailed

Wasilla High School students have had a front-row seat for what we hope will continue to be an illuminating education about one of America's basic tenets of freedom - expression.

For 17 days, students passed a large, gray shape covered in tarps and bungee cords while entering and exiting through the school's main doors. That 12.5-foot-high, 3,000-pound something is "Warrior Within," a sculpture created by local artists Jim Dault and Shala Dobson as part of the state's Percent for Art Program. The large stone-looking monolith features a pair of Zulu warrior-style shields surrounded by illuminated red feathers. A bronze shield is emblazoned with a hand intended to represent good deeds; a silver one with a flame represents the spark of inspiration.

Apparently, though, the artwork also sparked the juvenile imaginations of some students and parents, who complained the sculpture resembles female genitalia. Days after the work was installed Jan. 29, WHS principal Amy Spargo decided to cover it.

While we believe Spargo was sincere in her desire to protect "Warrior Within" from threats of vandalism, we don't know what else to call purposefully obstructing a work of public art except censorship. That's why we were pleased late Friday afternoon to watch as district staff uncovered the artwork.

We make no claims to be trained art critics. All artwork is subjective to individual opinion and interpretation. The issue at Wasilla High School isn't whether "Warrior Within" is a worthy work of art, whether the majority of us like it, or even whether its $100,000 cost was appropriate. We are all governed by the rule of law and processes established by law. In this case, the established process was followed and should be respected.

The key issue here is more than two weeks of censorship of a sculpture that was thoroughly vetted and approved by both a Percent for Art Program committee and the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board.

We're pleased the artists are scheduled to visit the school on Friday to begin the education process for students, parents and staff about the warrior symbolism behind the sculpture. We're also concerned students have already been taught that any group can use bullying tactics to override a well-established process when it yields results they don't like.

Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart could have been talking about our little brouhaha when he said, "Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself."

We trust our local public schools don't also censor diagrams and artwork about human sexuality, reproduction and biology contained in textbooks and school libraries. We hope part of students' education also includes the idea that the human body is itself a beautiful and amazing work of art.

We were appalled to hear comments from adults in our community suggesting that students should vandalize the sculpture. And we were discouraged to hear adults and school staff also participated in the jokes and teasing of the lone student on the review committee. But more than anything, we are encouraged that it seems reason has prevailed.