Nov 10

Nov 10 Removing the Crown

Chicago, Demonstrations, Protest, Public Declarations

“. . . and fortunately was just in time to see [the white rabbit] pop down a large rabbit–hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

The rabbit–hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. ”

— Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Louis Carroll (1865)

At 4:00 PM today, 75 mostly young people gathered outside the entrance to the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). This was a pro-Palestinian demonstration, but with a very specific set of demands: the AIC’s board of trustees must: (i) cut ties with the Crown Family; (ii) refuse all future Crown Family donations; (iii) remove Steven Crown from the Board of Trustees; (iv) rename the Henry Crown Gallery; and (v) end the Crown Professorship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

Behind Enemy Lines was the organizing force behind today’s demonstration, bringing its focus on U.S. hegemony around the world, with particular emphasis on the use of military power, which explains why today’s demonstration targeted the Crown Family.

Crown Family Background. Henry Crown and two of his brothers formed Material Service Corporation in 1919, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959. Today, General Dynamics is a large aerospace and defense contractor with $33.4 billion in 2022 worldwide sales. Crown died in 1990, but his son, Lester Crown, now controls the family’s holdings, which include interests in Maytag, Hilton Hotels, Alltel, Aspen Skiing Company, the Chicago Bulls, Rockefeller Center, and the New York Yankees. Lester has made the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans each year since 1982. For the tax geeks, he was also the impetus for the addition of Section 7872 to the Internal Revenue Code.

James Crown, who is one of Lester’s son, was the family’s representative on the General Dynamics board of directors, but he was killed in an accident earlier this year. The General Dynamics 2021 Proxy Statement identifies James as the Lead Director, stating that he owns 5.5% of the company’s outstanding stock, but a footnote indicates that a significant portion of this percentage is attributable to the Crown Family and affiliated entities.

The General Dynamics 2023 Proxy Statement also identifies James as a director but does not indicate his percentage of ownership. A footnote, however, states that “Mr. Crown may be deemed to have indirect beneficial ownership with respect to 15,253,281 shares. Mr. Crown disclaims beneficial ownership over these shares, including the ability to exercise voting or investment power through the entities that own them, except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein.”

According to an October 2, 2023 biographical statement published on the Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MCA) website, Steven Crown, who is another of Lester’s sons, is a Principal of Henry Crown and Company. As the handout from Behind Enemy Lines correctly reports, Steven is an Art Institute of Chicago trustee.

The family has provided significant support to Chicago-area arts institutions. Steven and his wife, Nancy, “cochaired Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2014 campaign to fuel Arts Education in Chicago Public schools, raising over $38 million.” In 2016, family members and Crown Family Philanthropies made a $2 million gift to the Art Institute, endowing a full professorship at the SAIC—the Crown Family Professor in Painting and Drawing.

Undoubtedly, Steven, as an AIC trustee, is making annual contributions to AIC, either outright or indirectly through a foundation or other vehicle, in keeping with the adage “Give, Get, or Get Off.” He is a director of the Arie and Ida Crown Memorial (AICM), which is a Crown Family giving vehicle. Its 2021 990-PF lists $105,000 in gifts to the AIC, and $100,000 in in gifts to the MCA, so there is evidence of contributions.

The Demonstration. The demonstration was well organized and largely orderly. The event ran slightly over an hour, with several speakers making pro-Palestinian speeches, as well as laying out their case against Steven Crown and General Dynamics. The speakers stood with their backs to Monroe, while the demonstrators gathered around, forming a semi-circle.

After the demonstration, I asked one person whether most demonstrators were SAIC students. “Yes,” was the response, which did not surprise me given the youthful faces and what I would characterize as art-student attire. There were several people in the group who appeared to be Palestinian, at least based on dress, but I was surprised that I did not see any of the Palestinian community leaders that I regularly encounter at the larger demonstrations.

The Chicago Police Department had a small force of somewhere between 10 and 15 members of its bicycle squad present. For the most part, they took a hands-off approach until the group marched from the Modern Wing’s entrance to AIC’s Michigan Avenue entrance. At that point, the demonstrators rushed up the steps toward the front doors. The police responded by running up the steps, and then positioning themselves between the demonstrators and doors.

At first, I thought the demonstrators were going to stage a sit-in once inside the museum, but AIC security’s force apparently had locked the doors. Whatever their original intentions, the demonstrators quickly turned toward Michigan Avenue, arranging themselves for what I refer to as the Team Photo.

Once the photo-op was over, the demonstrators headed back to the Modern Wing’s entrance, where one person made several comments as AIC visitors streamed out of the museum at closing time. The demonstrators then headed their separate ways.

In one sense, this demonstration offered a welcome change to what has become the formula for pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Rather than the usual chants and recitations of grievances, the students identified a specific connection between Chicago and what is transpiring in Gaza.

I was pleased with one aspect of the demonstration. As regular readers know, I believe demonstrators undercut their mission when they stand in crowds scrolling through their Instagram, TikTok, and other feeds. Today, I saw very few phones.

Demonstrations on College Campuses. As has been reported, the nation’s college campuses have become a hotbed of activity since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Politicians, op-ed writers, Jewish philanthropists, and Jewish community leaders have expressed concern over the anti-Semitic tone displayed by some demonstrators. There have been some notable incidents, including the Cornell student who allegedly threatened to kill Jewish students.

Today’s demonstration was the first one I have attended where the demonstrators were primarily college students, permitting me to assess the student vibe firsthand. I obviously don’t know whether any of the students harbor anti-Semitic beliefs regarding Jewish people, but no one verbalized any overtly anti-Semitic beliefs. I don’t equate concern for Palestinian civilians as anti-Semitic. High-ranking officials in the Biden Administration have expressed similar concerns.

Will AIC Accede to the Students’ Demands? The war now raging in Gaza highlights once again the complex and nuanced issues that surround the long-festering conflict between Jewish inhabitants of Canaan and the Palestinian people. While the students’ demands are reasonable ones in their eyes, the AIC trustees most likely will ignore those demands. The Crown Family is simply too powerful and influential—too embedded in Chicago’s civic and political fabric. The Arie and Ida Crown Memorial’s 2021 990-PF says it all. Just look at Item I on page 1: Fair Market Value of All Assets at End of Year— $2,185,676,734. Not millions, but billions. Then look at the list of grantees and the size of the grants to each. In total, the foundation made $122,598,304 of grants to hundreds of charities, many located in Chicago.

These are the exact sort of entanglements that have sparked the ire of both the demonstrators and those who founded Behind Enemy Lines. In terms of the relationship between the Crown Family and AIC, we are seeing entanglements at the cellular or micro level. Behind Enemy Lines is focused on what President Eisenhower characterized in 1961 as the military-industrial complex, which globalization has only intensified. In other words, what might be termed macro entanglements.

To many, the solutions are simple, but in reality, the web of issues surrounding the U.S. position in the world, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is multi-faceted and nuanced. Anyone demanding immediate change will soon find themselves frustrated. The webbing is simply bound too tightly.

Today, the students demanded that the AIC’s board of trustee untangle one thread from the whole. I suspect that the trustees’ response will be rooted in the influential principles set forth in the University of Chicago’s Policy on Freedom of Expression, which essentially states that the University of Chicago will not take positions on public policy. According to the statement, a university’s role is to facilitate debate, not to take sides. AIC’s board of trustees will simply state that they are not an arbiter of public policy debates, if they respond at all. Their task is simply overseeing a museum and an affiliated school.

Because the students are making demands on the AIC trustees, it is only fair to ask the students whether they are willing to accept the consequences that would likely flow should the trustees accede to the student demands. If AIC ceases accepting financial support from the Crown Family, are the students prepared for the increases in tuition? Renaming the Henry Crown Gallery and ending the Crown Professor also could result in tuition increases—this is dependent on the terms of the restricted gifts and Illinois law. Are those students who accepted scholarships funded by Crown Family money willing to return the funds to AIC? After all, isn’t acceptance of these funds participation in art-washing? Will students continue to apply for scholarships funded by the Crown Family? Will students continue to watch the Bulls and Yankees play?

Why focus just on the Crown Family and General Dynamics? Shouldn’t AIC divest its portfolio of all investments in defense contractors (merchants of death), big Pharma (high drug prices), large processed-food producers (unhealthy food), and other industries that many college students view as problematic? Once again, are the students willing to pay the higher tuition costs brought about by lower investment returns on AIC’s endowment funds? Are they prepared to forgo financial assistance funded by the endowment? Are they prepared to uproot themselves, completing their degrees at another institution?

All food for thought.

A Note to the Young Woman Who Asked For My Images. A young woman approached me outside the Art Institute, asking me to provide her with my images from the demonstration. She appeared to be one of the organizers. I told her, ”No.” In my mind, she probably wouldn’t make that request to a Getty Images or New York Times photographer. Why am I any different? I explained to her that I generally don’t allow the organizers of a demonstration to use my images because doing so would position me as a partisan.

I should have made two other points. First, as an apparent artist, is she prepared to give her work away for free whenever anybody asks her for it?

Second, if organizers need photographs, then they should hire a photographer, as many other organizations do. By giving my work away for free, I am depriving a creative professional of paying work. For the record, I do occasionally make my work available to others for free, but each time I take into the surrounding circumstances. In the end, it is my work, and my choice.

To her credit, she politely accepted my answer.

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