Anger at a Cop Killer, a Plea for Clemency, and a Fight Over Free Expression at American U.

The statue of Leonard Peltier was meant to raise awareness of his Native American activism, his artistry and his decades spent in prison for killing two FBI agents, a crime he says he didn’t commit. But just as a federal prosecutor in the case against him wrote to President Obama supporting Peltier’s request for clemency, the sculpture has sparked outrage at American University. Anger over the sculpture, which some critics say glorifies a cop killer at a time when police officers have been targeted for violent attacks across the country, led the university to remove it Tuesday, less than a month after it was installed.