Three design students’ exhibition was cancelled after the artwork was deemed inappropriate for display during administrative meetings.

The students, Robert Parr, junior, Mark Ramos, graduate student, and Solomon Pech, senior, were displaying their paintings in Room 181 of the Design Building.

Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design, said the students’ artwork was removed because of a conflict with another meeting on Friday.

“[The students] wanted to show their work, which is generally a welcome thing,” Engelbrecht said. “They were going to do it Thursday and Friday, but we discovered we had scheduled a conference in that particular room. We have a rule that if there is a conflict, we have to go from the top.”

Engelbrecht said it was a “question of expression.” He said the artwork was not appropriate for use during the meeting, which included advisers to the dean and guests from China.

“It just wasn’t suitable … the images involved crucifixions with nude male and female and nude female-slash-male figures.” He described the work as “very aggressive” and “very, very large.”

He said the paintings would have made it impossible to have a conversation in the room because they take up too much “psychological space.”

“In some ways, that says the work is very powerful,” he said.

Parr said he “definitely” thought the cancellation was censorship.

“There will be people in that room who are potentially wanting to donate lots of money to the school, and [the college] thought the art was not appropriate,” he said.

Engelbrecht said the college is “not in the habit of putting student work behind doors.”

“They can put [the paintings] up again at an early date,” he said.

He said he suggested moving the venue for the dean’s event, but there were no other rooms available.

He said the students have to reserve the space, and the form they filled out includes a clause saying it may be necessary for the work to be changed depending on other needs for the space.

“This is because we don’t have much space in our college. We’re always juggling,” Engelbrecht said.