USM pulls controversial exhibit

University of Southern Maine President Richard Pattenaude said Friday the school is canceling a controversial exhibit of paintings by Thomas W. Manning, a federal inmate convicted of killing a police officer and bombing buildings in the 1970s and '80s.

USM STATEMENT

Read USM President Richard L. Pattenaude's statement on the USM art exhibit: Statement

Pattenaude said Manning's paintings will be removed from the Woodbury Campus Center. A symposium planned for Oct. 4 is being reorganized and rescheduled.

The University stirred up angry protests from police officers and associations across Maine and in other states after announcing the show as the work of "Political Prisoner Tom Manning." Critics said calling Manning a political prisoner was dishonest and disrespectful to the slain officer and his family, as well as all officers.

University officials first responded by placing quotation marks around the words political prisoner, by including background about Manning's crimes in the exhibit and by inviting people with other viewpoints to participate in the symposium.

Protests continued to mount, however, and the slain officer's widow, Donnna Lamonaco, said Thursday she planned to come and join a protest at the school next Friday. Police officials also planned to call attention to the controversy at a breakfast meeting next week between Pattenaude and corporate sponsors of the school.

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