To the Editor:
After four difficult years, I have been released from my legal ordeal. I want to thank everyone who supported me through this, the greatest challenge I’ve ever had to face. I feel vindicated because I am innocent, but I am also humbled by a legal and political victory that is not mine alone. Everyone who contributed their support to this case can lay claim to a victory against the forces aiming to abridge our fundamental rights.

It’s only now that it seems my case is over that I can fully comprehend the immensity of what happened. The unfortunate events following my wife’s death occurred at a moment of intense pain and sadness for all of us. Neither my life nor the work of Critical Art Ensemble has been the same without her. If Hope were here today, I know she would be proud of everything that has been done by all the people involved. Collectively, we stood without flinching, and defeated a monster of social injustice. Hope always said that we should “never surrender” to authoritarian power, and we didn’t.

I was extremely fortunate to have a team of people form a defense group when I was still in shock. I want to thank the members of the CAE Defense Fund for coming to my defense.

Throughout the last four years, so many people raised their voices in my defense, and that of my friend and co-defendant, Robert Ferrell. We could not have adequately defended ourselves without the labor and activism of thousands of individuals, groups, artists and activists. I am grateful to all of you worldwide who helped to organize fundraisers, letter-writing campaigns, conferences, teach-ins, protests and other events. Your actions made a real difference in this case.

Please remember also that this case was about so much more than just keeping me out of jail. This is a great legal and political victory that will affect many cases to come. Through its prosecution of this case, the Department of Justice was hoping to expand the most broadly written law on the books (mail fraud) into an all-encompassing Leviathan that could be used at its discretion against any citizen at any time. Not only did we prevent this dangerous expansion of the law, the precedent we set has narrowed it. Because of our collective effort, a bogus charge like the one targeting Bob and me is unlikely ever to happen again. And if it were to happen, any competent attorney could easily shoot it down.

— Steven Kurtz, SUNY Buffalo

UUP member and University of Buffalo professor of visual arts Steven Kurtz has been waiting four years to hear four words, “This case is dismissed.”

He got his wish April 21, when Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment that had been hanging over Kurtz’s head since June 2004, when he was charged with two counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud. The charges stemmed from an exchange of $256 worth of harmless bacteria with Robert Ferrell, a professor of human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Kurtz planned to use the bacteria in an educational art exhibit about biotechnology with his award-winning art and theater collective, Critical Art Ensemble.

The charges followed Kurtz’s detention on suspicion of bioterrorism. Local authorities contacted the FBI after responding to Kurtz’s call that his wife had died suddenly overnight.

UUP in February passed a resolution in support of academic freedom and Kurtz’s right to free expression. The resolution, which was adopted during the union’s 2008 Winter Delegate Assembly, called on the union to “insist that all charges and legal proceedings against Dr. Steven Kurtz be immediately dropped.”

UUP also asked its affiliates to take similar action on Kurtz’s behalf.

“This is great news for our UB colleague,” said UUP Vice President for Academics Frederick Floss of Buffalo State. “This is a great victory for academic freedom.”

Kurtz’s lawyer, Paul Cambria, said his client was pleased and relieved that this ordeal may be coming to an end.

The prosecution has the right to appeal this dismissal. If an appeal were undertaken, the case would move to the New York Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City.

— Karen L. Mattison