Austin Peay State University will now require its art students to seek official approval before they are permitted to take their senior projects to off-campus exhibits. The move followed the reception given one senior’s artwork, which included a set of deep-fried American flags. The work drew heated complaints when it went on display last month at a museum in Clarksville, Tenn., The Leaf Chronicle, a local newspaper, reported.

The artist said his work, “The Fat Is in the Fire,” was intended to draw attention to Americans’ poor eating habits and resulting obesity. The museum says it was misled about the nature of the piece, especially the artist’s use of real American flags. Meanwhile, as the artist’s defenders are crying censorship, the university says it cannot allow such senior projects to be exhibited as off-campus representatives of Austin Peay unless it approves them first.