The Brooklyn Museum of Art may face some hard times if New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani and Republican presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole have their way.

Both politicians would like to see funding for the arts be either eliminated or phased out.

Guiliani is in the process of trying to pull the plug on a Brooklyn Museum exhibit titled, “Sensation.” Dole said Sunday she would like to see the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts phased out and eventually eliminated, according to CNN.

This came after the exhibit opened featuring a dissected cow and pig, a castrated male dummy, and “The Holy Virgin Mary,” adorned with elephant dung.

Executive Director of the Iowa American Civil Liberties Union Ben Stone said the organization is definitely against NEA cuts.

“We certainly have strong feelings about government censorship; it is opposed at all times,” he said. “Any attempt to use funding levels to punish speech is unconstitutional.”

Ingrid Lilligren, associate professor of art and design, agreed with Stone.

“Once the funding has been given to the institution, the givers should not be able to take the money back,” she said. “If in the next cycle, the givers choose to review their policies about giving and which institutes to give it to, that is their prerogative.”

The ACLU comes from the same standpoint, Stone said.

“Once funding is set up, the government has a position not to censor based on their opinion of the value of the speech,” he said. “If at some point in the distant future, the people of New York decide not to fund the arts at all, that is a decision they can make.

“It is a political one and doesn’t have any constitutional repercussions, but if they pull the funding because of a certain exhibit, that is using the power of the purse,” Stone said.

Letitia Hansen of the Octagon Center for the Arts said she is sorry to see this issue turn political.

“I am speaking only as my own opinion, but people are bringing this up now just to get votes,” she said. “Just a few months ago, there was another controversial exhibit, and no one said anything.”

Hansen and Stone both said they find it ironic that many of these controversial pieces would never have been seen by the majority of the general public, but because of Guiliani and now Dole, they have been shown in the news frequently.

“By making a big deal out of what would have been an obscure painting, the censors have made it public to everyone,” Stone said.