- December 2004 GETTYSBURG, Va. — The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is vowing to make Gettysburg College squirm for hosting an art exhibit that included the “lynching” of a Confederate flag.

“We’re not going to sit by and watch our Confederate heritage impugned,” said the SCV’s Kirk Lyons. “We consider it hate speech. They pay a price, and that price is to be embarrassed.”

In September the college art gallery mounted an exhibit by African-American artist John Sims, of Sarasota, Fla., dubbed “Reclamation Proclamation: The Gettysburg Redress.” Along with Confederate flags in unusual hues, it featured the “lynching” of a flag in a noose that dangled from the gallery ceiling.

The SCV hosted a rally on the Gettysburg battlefield timed to coincide with the show’s opening reception Sept. 3. But that was just the beginning.

At the college’s Homecoming weekend in October, the SCV paid to have a light plane circle the football stadium for two hours during the game with the Ursinus College Bears, towing a banner that read, “Gettysburg College Teach the Truth. Go Bears.”

And the SCV placed signs on three billboards around Gettysburg urging the college to “Pay the Bill and Tell the Truth.” The message refers to $13,500 in costs that local municipalities incurred for police protection for the gallery.

SCV Commander-in-Chief Denne Sweeney upped the ante, asking college president Katherine Haley Will in a Sept. 17 letter to co-host with the SCV another art display or a symposium, promising to carry it out “in a professional and academic manner.”

In a letter to Will, Sweeney said the Sims exhibit “included elements that could be interpreted as illegal hate speech,” but added, “We are certainly open to creating a dialogue that could end the unpleasantness between Gettysburg College and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.”

Lyons said the SCV will not relent till the college “gives us equal time on campus.” Lyons is chief of staff of the ANV, the SCV’s eastern department, and an attorney with the North Carolina-based Southern Legal Resource Center.

“We’re basically trying to bring Gettysburg College to its senses, and do the right thing,” Lyons said. He warned that the organization’s 34,000 members “can stay up late at night thinking of ways to make the college regret they ever brought John Sims on campus.”

Lyons said the SCV’s campaign against the college was “part of a much wider struggle that we’re going to have to face. Academia has turned violently against Southern heritage. At colleges and universities there’s increasing hostility to anything Southern or Confederate.”

Gettysburg College is resisting the SCV’s pressure. Spokesman Patricia Lawson pointed out that there are two endowed Civil War chairs at the college, and that the college offers a minor in the Civil War, a “Gettysburg Semester” that focuses on the war, and the Civil War Institute, an annual five-day symposium for the general public.

Lawson acknowledged, however, that the flag flap had prompted discussion along the lines of the SCV’s proposal — but not necessarily with the SCV’s involvement.

“We have talked about perhaps having a seminar that would look at the Confederate flag,” Lawson said, “and we’d look for a scholarly group to do that.”

Meanwhile, on Oct. 12 Will presented Gettysburg Borough with a check for $15,000 to cover all police costs, plus a little extra. Borough spokesman Walter Powell called the overage “a gesture of good will” and said of the gallery show and protests, “We’re happy it ended more or less in amicable fashion.” The Borough had initially predicted that police protection for the show could reach as high as $30,000 to $130,000.

Molly Hutton, director of the college’s art gallery, said she had “no regrets” about inviting Sims to mount his work.

“I still believe it was an important exhibition to show here,” Hutton said. “A lot of people were pleased to see the discussion open up.”

Sims refused to attend the opening of the show after the college decided, for the sake of security, to bring the flag “lynching” indoors. Sims had built a 13-foot “gallows” for the piece, which he titled “The Proper Way to Hang a Confederate Flag.” The contraption was too tall for the gallery room and couldn’t be used.

In the wake of the show, Sims wrote to the local paper to say that he would return to Gettysburg and bury the flag if someone would provide a suitable patch of ground. “Apparently no one volunteered,” Hutton said.

She noted that the SCV’s attack on the college was raised at an October conference of the Southeastern Museum Association, the regional arm of the American Association of Museums. A panel member cited the college’s situation as a case in point when discussing “neo-Confederate pressure on arts organizations,” Hutton said.

“The controversy is starting to reach other audiences and we don’t know what the results will be.”

Hutton said the SCV’s billboards and airplane banner may have fallen short of the mark. “The billboard is sort of enigmatic,” she said. “People wonder what they’re talking about.” As for the banner, “I think a lot of people thought the other team paid for it.”

She suggested, however, that she was open to the SCV’s proposal for a seminar or exhibit.

“I’m pleased that the SCV is asking for more dialogue,” she said. “If the college decides to do that, that would be productive.”