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Three students said their freedom of expression was stifled when a portion of their art exhibit focusing on women’s reproductive rights was stolen just a day after it had been put up.

The exhibit, “Women Exposed: Art of Contemporary Issues,” opened at Northern Lights last Wednesday as part of the three students’ final project for their honors collegium class on the history of art as social and political commentary.

The three female students said they decided to do the project as part of a tribute to Women’s History Month and focused their exhibit on three themes: violence against women, unequal pay and reproductive issues.

“We wanted to raise awareness for these issues in light of Women’s History Month and hopefully show that these issues are going to affect women for the rest of their lives and are also prevalent on the UCLA campus,” said Avital Ungar, one of the student directors of the exhibit.

The students felt their freedom of expression was being attacked because the part of the exhibit that was stolen dealt with reproductive rights and abortion.

University police say they don’t yet know the motivation for the theft, but are investigating.

Liz Kislik, a second-year communication studies student and one of the directors of the exhibit, said she was not as upset about the value of the artwork – which she set at over $200 – as she was about what she perceived as an attack on her freedom of speech.

“It’s really sad that we work and study in a community where you have to be afraid that your stuff is going to be taken down or vandalized if people don’t agree with your perspective,” Kislik said.

The students also wrote a letter to Chancellor Albert Carnesale to say they hoped to meet with him about ways to improve dialogue on campus and ensure that every student has a voice.

“A university thrives when there is robust debate about controversial issues. Theft and vandalism are the antithesis of free and open discourse,” the students wrote to Carnesale.

Paul Von Blum, who teaches the course, said the university should reaffirm its commitment to free expression and called the theft an “egregious assault” on university values.

Von Blum also said that if he had students in his class with opposing political values, he would support their choice to put up an art exhibit.

“I would condemn with equal vigor anybody who would pull down pro-life posters,” Von Blum said.