Trial of art professor remains at a standstill

The trial of UB art professor Steven Kurtz, who was indicted for mail and wire fraud because of his artwork, continues to idle in court as the popular teacher awaits the first of his pretrial hearings.

Dates for the hearings have been consistently set and delayed by both the prosecution and defense teams, Kurtz said in an interview with The Spectrum, and at this point in time, no further dates have been set.

"There are no dates set right now, and all the dates that are set never seem to pan out," Kurtz said. "The case should be interesting, because this is the first time that an attack against artists and civil expression has been taken out of the civil arena and put into the criminal arena."

In the meantime, Kurtz has continued to teach at UB and has no plans to leave UB anytime in the near future,

Kurtz was arrested last May for the possession of bacteria cultures he kept in his house for his unique artwork. Local police discovered the bacteria while investigating the May 11 death of Kurtz's wife, Hope, who died in her sleep.

Originally, police and hazardous materials teams believed the cultures, which they referred to as "biological agents," played a role in Hope's death. That theory was proven false, but early in the investigation a joint terrorism task force was brought in and Kurtz quickly found himself under scrutiny for charges of bio-terrorism.

After a federal investigation, the bio-terrorism allegations were dropped and Kurtz was indicted on charges of mail fraud and wire fraud for illegally obtaining his samples of bacteria.

"On this case, the feds have gone from terrorism to protecting the public safety to this petty charge," said Paul Cambria, lead attorney for Kurtz's defense team, to The Buffalo News.

Since the indictments, support for Kurtz has come from both inside and outside the UB community.

President John Simpson gave his support last June in a statement to all faculty that also appeared in the Buffalo News.

"I want to state very clearly that the exercise of academic and intellectual freedom by all of our faculty members is fully supported by me and by this university," Simpson said.

The UB art department has also made it clear it fully supports Kurtz as he faces these charges.

"As far as the faculty, everybody is in agreement and support of him. There hasn't been any dissention as far as that," said Becky Koenig, assistant to the chair of the art department. "It's never been a question of whether or not we support him. We're all unified in our support of Steven Kurtz."

According to Koenig, the art department will also be hosting a symposium in support of Kurtz. "Art, Law, and the Patriot Act" will take place on April 13 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Center for the Arts screening room.

At the symposium, people from different universities will speak in a panel discussion on Kurtz's case and how it will affect the art world.

"I think that's a pretty good show of support right there," Koenig said of the symposium.

Many students also say they support Kurtz and they believe the charges against him are without merit.

"They're making an example out of him, and that's just sad," said Alyssa Crick, a senior communication design major. "The feds have this attitude of 'Let's just charge him with something so we don't look like fools.' Professor Kurtz is the last person who should go to prison, and they're punishing him for their overreaction."

Doug Borsuk, a senior illustration major who, along with Crick, is in Kurtz's senior thesis class, also said the charges against Kurtz are uncalled for.

"There's no way you'd think this guy could be a terrorist," Borsuk said. "You'd think that if they took two seconds to listen to him and see what his work with the Critical Art Ensemble is all about, they'd realize it's not what they're making it out to be."

Nikki Gorman, a sophomore communication design major who had Kurtz as an advisor, also vouched for him.

"He's the nicest guy and really made himself available to me," Gorman said. "This whole thing is ridiculous. It's just too much for him to handle, he's been coping with grief. The fact that they would lock him out of his house and indict him after his wife died absolutely broke my heart."

Kurtz and Robert Ferrell, the chairman of the University of Pittsburgh's human genetics department, are accused of illegally scheming to use Ferrell's position with the University of Pittsburgh to obtain two bacterial agents that were found in Kurtz's home laboratory.

The two biological agents seized from Kurtz's home were bacillus atrophaeus and serratia marcescens, which are not alleged to be highly dangerous substances. But prosecutor William Hochul Jr. said the substances were purchased under false pretenses by Ferrell, who said they were going to be used in research at his university.

The bacteria were part of a recent art installation by Kurtz's group, the Critical Art Ensemble. According to the group's Web site, it has "very publicly and legally performed scientific processes to demystify them and make them accessible to audiences."

"Free Range Grains," the group's latest project, includes a mobile DNA extraction laboratory for testing food products for the presence of genetically modified organisms.

While no dates are currently set for pretrial hearings, Kurtz said he will continue to teach at UB throughout the trial as it progresses.

"I'm still teaching and I plan to continue teaching here, I'll just miss some classes if I have to appear in court," Kurtz said. "It's business as usual for me, except I can't do as much of my own work anymore. I will, however, continue to work with the Critical Art Ensemble on biotech projects as the case progresses."