New York City shut down a display of art by Brooklyn College students on Thursday, one day after the exhibition opened, after officials responded to complaints about the artworks, the Associated Press reported late Friday. One work featured a live pet rat, and others offered viewers delicate watercolors of gay sexual encounters and sculptings of male genitalia. The exhibit appeared in a city building that students at the City University of New York college use as gallery space, and dozens of students protested outside the building over the weekend, the AP reported.

In other news of art censorship last week, Brandeis University removed paintings by Palestinian teenagers that were part of a student-organized display at its library, The Boston Globe reported. Officials at the predominantly Jewish university said they were responding to complaints that the artworks showed only one side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The dispute came at a time when Brandeis is drawing criticism from some supporters of Israel for having signed a long-term cooperative agreement with Al-Quds University, a Palestinian institution (The Chronicle, March 24).