Let's Lighten Up on Those Flesh Tones

By PAUL GRAY/

Students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago are getting more attention than they expected. The school has hired a team of consultants who are scheduled to drop in on art classes and "assess student profiles," which the students suspect really means taking note of potentially offensive works in progress. School officials may not want to be burned again by their students' knack for controversy. In 1988 an exhibition featuring a portrayal of the late Mayor Harold Washington in women's underwear prompted enraged aldermen to take the painting off the wall in protest. A year later, veterans' groups went ballistic over a student's placing of an American flag on the floor, which encouraged visitors to traipse across it as part of the artistic experience. While officials staunchly defended the right to free expression at the time, the institute would be happy to avoid a new episode and a possible drop in public contributions.

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS