Civil liberties.

In the U.S. war against terrorism, a federal grand jury issued indictments against Steven Kurtz, an art professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, who used bacteria in his work, and against a genetics professor, Robert Ferrell, at the University of Pittsburgh, who the prosecutor says illegally supplied the microbes to the art professor. Mr. Kurtz, affiliated with an art collective called the Critical Art Ensemble, plans on using the microbes in an exhibit on the politics of biotechnology in food. Federal officials, however, apparently are concerned that Mr. Kurtz might be operating a bioterrorism lab out of his home. If found guilty, the two professors could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison and fined $250,000 (July 9, 2004, chronicle.com).

In In These Times (August 30, 2004) Kurt Vonnegut pays tribute to all the librarians across the country who "have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles."

Brian Newark, a high school teacher in Massachusetts, sued his principal and school superintendent for taking away a Current Events class for this fall because in the spring term he had used the graphic images from Abu Ghraib prison of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners. Although the lawyers for the suit contend that school officials violated Newark's right to free speech, the Current Events class at this time has not been returned to Newark (The Boston Globe, August 25, 2004).

At the request of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. government revoked the work visa for a Muslim scholar and Swiss citizen, Tariq Ramadan, who was scheduled to teach at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana this fall (The Boston Globe, August 25, 2004).