On February 11, 2026, the University of North Texas (UNT) canceled an art exhibit, Ni De Aquí Ni De Allá (“Not From Here, Not From There”), by artist Victor Quiñonez. The cancellation took place one week after the exhibit opened.
Ni De Aquí Ni De Allá explored the Mexican and Mexican-American identity of Quiñonez, who was born in Mexico and grew up in Dallas, Texas, as an undocumented person. The exhibit addresses immigration, incarceration, and resistance, and implicitly criticizes the US government’s deportation efforts through the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. On loan from Boston University Art Galleries, Ni De Aquí Ni De Allá, was scheduled to show at UNT’s College of Visual Art and Design (CVAD) from February 3 to May 3, 2026. However, days after it opened UNT students reported to Quiñonez that CVAD’s windows had been covered with brown paper and the exhibition announcements had been removed from UNT social media and websites. On February 11, UNT leadership wrote to Quiñonez, notifying him, without any explanation, that the exhibit had been canceled and that the university was returning the artwork to Boston University.
UNT administrators reportedly later told faculty that the decision to cancel the exhibition was related to concerns over political repercussions for the university, including the potential loss of funding. According to transcripts obtained by the Denton Record-Chronicle and independently confirmed by the newspaper with several sources, UNT Dean Karen Hutzel told faculty that the decision to close the exhibition was an “institutional directive” from outside CVAD that had been triggered by the ICE-related artwork. The cancellation appeared to be inconsistent with UNT policy, which states, “Decisions regarding works of art exhibited in UNT facilities shall be consistent with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the State of Texas Constitution, the principles of academic freedom and academic responsibility, and applicable UNT System Regents Rules, UNT System Regulations, and campus policies.”
Scholars at Risk is concerned about a public university cancelling an on-campus art exhibition in apparent response to external pressures. While actors outside higher education have a right to express their concerns about discourse on campus, higher education institutions and their leaders have a responsibility to resist external pressures and to defend the academic freedom and free expression rights of members of their community, including artists invited to display their work on campus. Censoring or cancelling expressive activities on campus in response to external pressures undermines institutional autonomy, academic freedom, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/02/17/u-north-texas-cancels-exhibit-anti-ice-art
https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts-culture/unt-removes-art-inspired-by-immigration-from-dallas-raised-mexican-american-artist-40643459/
https://www.keranews.org/education/2026-02-12/unt-cancels-prominent-street-artists-exhibit-on-campus-featuring-ice-related-work
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/arts/design/university-north-texas-victor-quinonez-ice.html
https://dentonrc.com/education/higher_education/university_of_north_texas/unt-dean-said-fears-of-political-repercussions-led-to-removal-of-art-exhibit-leaked-transcripts/article_ec53cc32-0639-4ef2-8830-5afdd56f11d9.html
https://www.bu.edu/cfa/featured-work/ni-de-aqui-ni-de-alla-victor-quinonez/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15owEt57m-EZiOpu3DJ7HKnmHDzAtNNUC/view
https://www.aclutx.org/press-releases/aclu-of-texas-ncac-urge-university-of-north-texas-to-apologize-and-uphold-academic-freedom-after-apparent-censorship-of-art-exhibit-critical-of-ice/