As you may have anticipated, a wrench has been thrown in John Galliano's plans to teach The School of Fashion at Parsons. Led by an anonymous source, a petition has been started to prevent the defamed designer from teaching a three-day master class series, entitled "Show Me Emotion." Currently posted on change.org, the petition has been quite successful so far — as of this morning, it's almost reached 400 signatures (ed note: at time of publication). And, as New York Magazine points out, it's very possible that someone or some group in the Parsons student body is responsible for the petition and is resisting the new professor.
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"It doesn't matter if it's for three months or three days, hiring someone who has made such horrific comments shows that the school values Galliano over their entire Jewish student body," the petition reads. It later continues to say: "We do not want money from our tuition going to this kind of person. We feel like we've been slapped in the face by our school. There should be no room for this kind of person as a staff member on the faculty at Parsons."
While this kind of backlash is quite expected after Galliano's anti-Semitic remarks made in '11, it's also something that Parsons took into account before making the decision to bring him on board, previously stating that it believed the designer has "demonstrated a serious intent to make amends." While the number of signatures may rise beyond this morning's benchmarks, we'll all have to stay tuned to see if this anonymous rally cry will lead to any real change. (NY Mag)
Photo: Courtesy of NY Mag