NY State Union Of Faculty Passes Very Strong Resolution In Support Of FBI-Persecuted Prof. Kurtz

[Hissyspit]

--PLEASE FORWARD-- NY State's union for faculty and professional staff, the largest such union in the country has unanimously passed a VERY strong resolution in support of Professors Steve Kurtz, insisting that all charges be immediately dropped and and calling on SUNY Buffalo's president to take action in support ofthat end. -- Best, Lucia

Background on the Kurtz case: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2812618

Attached, as well as pasted below, is the resolution of support for Dr.
Steven Kurtz, adopted without dissent by the United University Professions
Delegate Assembly meeting in Albany, NY, February 9, 2008. UUP is the
union for faculty and professional staff in SUNY.

Paul Zarembka

_____________

http://www.uupinfo.org/membership/welcome.html

Resolution of Support for Dr. Steven Kurtz

WHEREAS,
Dr. Steven Kurtz is a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY Buffalo and a
founding member, with his late wife, Hope, of the internationally-acclaimed
art and theater collective Critical Art Ensemble, which works within
educational and art contexts to raise awareness of a range of social
issues, biotechnology and the many issues surrounding it,

WHEREAS,
In participatory theater events, CAE publicly and legally perform basic
scientific processes to explain and demystify them, helping audiences
obtain a clearer understanding of the issues surrounding aspects of the
biotech revolution like genetically modified agriculture, advanced
reproductive technologies and bio-warfare,

WHEREAS,
In May 2004, the Joint Terrorism Task Force detained artist and SUNY
Buffalo Professor Steve Kurtz of Critical Art Ensemble as a suspected
"bioterrorist," seizing documents, computers, and equipment used in four of
CAE's projects, including materials for a project that was to have been
part of an exhibition and performance at the Massachusetts Museum of
Contemporary Art, and three other projects that had been safely displayed
in museums and galleries throughout Europe and North America with
absolutely no risk to the public,

WHEREAS,
The Public Health Commissioner and the FBI's own field and laboratory tests
concluded that these materials did not pose any health or safety threat to
people or the environment,

WHEREAS,
After a costly investigation, the Department of Justice (DoJ) instead
brought charges of "wire fraud" and "mail fraud" against Dr. Kurtz and his
colleague Dr. Ferrell, Professor of Human Genetics at the University of
Pittsburgh, punishable under the USA PATRIOT Act by up to 20 years in
prison, and continues to expend vast sums of public money on this
outrageous prosecution,

WHEREAS,
The DoJ is now claiming that Dr. Ferrell used his contract through the
University of Pittsburgh to purchase the samples from American Type Culture
Collection (ATCC), which he then gave to Dr. Kurtz for use in one of art
CAE's projects, thereby "defrauding" the University and ATCC, and which, if
true, this would constitute a minor contract discrepancy concerning $256 of
harmless commonly available science materials, to be settled between the
parties involved,

WHEREAS,
Neither the University of Pittsburgh, nor ATCC, nor any state authorities,
have brought any complaint against Ferrell or Kurtz and scientists
frequently share materials in this manner because such academic
collaboration is necessary for research,

WHEREAS,
The DoJ is going far outside its own guidelines in an attempt to make this
into a federal "crime" (the DoJ publishes a Criminal Resource Handbook
available online in which it states a general "Prosecution Policy Relating
to Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud" as follows: "Prosecutions of fraud ordinarily
should not be undertaken if the scheme employed consists of some isolated
transactions between individuals, involving minor loss to the victims, in
which case the parties should be left to settle their differences by civil
or criminal litigation in the state courts"),

WHEREAS,
The case has drawn international attention because its threat to the right
to freedom of speech and academic freedom; so much so that the editors of
the pre-eminent British science journal Nature have called on scientists to
support Dr. Kurtz and Dr. Ferrell, and innumerable other academics,
artists, and concerned citizens worldwide have gone on record to respond to
this outrageous case, passing resolutions and letters of support, and
organizing fundraisers for Drs. Kurtz and Ferrell,

WHEREAS,
This case indeed has profound implications for constitutionally guaranteed
rights to freedom of speech, expression, and inquiry, and seriously
compromises independent scientific research in which artists and academics
must have the right to openly and honestly contribute to vital public
discussion about the actions of their government,

AND WHEREAS,
This case threatens to erode the boundary between civil and criminal law
and to intimidate and criminalize those who would legitimately and legally
criticize government policy, while the DoJ's radical interpretation of mail
fraud law would maximize the department's power for selective prosecution,
and enable it to bring felony charges punishable by up to 20 years in
prison for any minor discrepancy in a civil contract involving the mail or
internet,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
That the UUP insists that all charges and legal proceedings against Dr.
Steven Kurtz be immediately dropped,

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the UUP President engage that office in such a way which would aid the
dropping of charges against Dr. Steven Kurtz, including but not limited to
Prosecutor's Office at the Department of Justice in Buffalo, New York
State's Congressional representatives, the American Association of
University Professors, the SUNY Faculty Senate, and the UUP publication The
Voice.