Louise Erdrich will read from her new novel at free event Sunday

Responding to a backlash against the use of seemingly racist oversized lips and ears at a fashion show this month, the Fashion Institute of Technology has placed two administrators on leave.

Earlier this month, the graduate program's fashion show featured models wearing bright red oversized lips and what appear to be monkey ears, evoking racist caricatures of Black people seen throughout American history. Mary Davis, the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Jonathan Kyle Farmer, the Chair of the MFA Fashion Design Department, have been placed on leave while an external law firm conducts an investigation into what transpired, according to a statement from the school.

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/fit-administrators-suspended-amid-backlash-over-fashion-show-evoking-racist-stereotypes