The drama surrounding Monday’s binning of students’ art works at Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Fine Arts by the dean and members of the faculty, has taken another twist.
Photos have been shared across social media today of piles of black garbage bins lined up and blocking a road to the faculty, with media, including Citylife, reporting that these bags were left by students as protest against the faculty.
CityNews visited the faculty this afternoon and saw many students and faculty members loading the black garbage bins into trucks to be removed. Some students told us that these bags had nothing to do with the incident and it was simply normal waste generated by the various art projects of students. They claim that the Mor Chor Community Facebook page has been politicising the incident and creating drama over normal garbage collection.
The students say that the faculty gets very messy with detritus from student projects and once in a while the garbage must be cleared to make room.
There have also been questions raised over the past 24 hours about the intentions of student activist Witaya Klungnil, who has been very vocal in his protests of the art’s removal from the faculty. It turns out that Witaya is not a student of the faculty as claimed, instead being a fourth year student of the faculty of humanities with a long record of disobedience and activism as well as many citations and warnings issued against him by the university.
He was the man seen on many clips and in many photos lying on the ground in protest of the faculty.
There are now some students and faculty members who are coming out to say that Witaya is doing more damage to the faculty’s reputation and that his behaviour is not supported by all.