Advocacy
Freedom of Expression and Censorship
CAA monitors and takes action on issues impacting freedom of expression in the visual arts and academia. CAA supports artists’ and scholars’ rights to free expression and opposes limits on intellectual inquiry, including censorship.Los Angeles Artist Settles VARA Lawsuit
May 2008
The Los Angeles Times reports that the artist Kent Twitchell will receive $1.1 million from the settlement of a lawsuit under the Visual Artists Rights Act. Click here to read more. Charges Against Steve Kurtz Dismissed
April 2008
A federal judge ruled to dismiss the indictment against the bio artist Steven Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble. Click here to read more. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Copyright Case
January 2008
The United States Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Kahle v. Ashcroft, brought by Internet Archive and Open Content Alliance founders Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger in 2003, which challenged the constitutionality of the current copyright regime. Click here to read more. Join Americans for the Arts' Cultural Policy Listserv
October 2007
Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, and New York that promotes and advances the arts in America, invites you to join its Cultural Policy listserv to receive the latest in arts advocacy news. Click here to read more. Academic Freedom Opinion Survey
April 2007
CAA encourages you to take the Academic Freedom Opinion Survey, created by the Scholars at Risk Network. Click here to read more. South African Researcher Deported
January 2007
Adam Habib, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, was deported upon his arrival in the United States in October. Click here to read more. Ideological Exclusion Lawsuit Update
September 2006
As reported in the May CAA News, the American Academy of Religion has joined the American Association of University Professors and PEN American Center in a lawsuit to prevent US government officials from barring foreign scholars from the United States solely because of views the scholars express. Click here to read more. Open Letter to Brooklyn Borough Commissioner
May 2006
CAA has sent a letter protesting the closing of the Brooklyn College MFA exhibition at the Brooklyn War Memorial in New York. Click here to read more. Treasury Department Lifts Ban on Foreign Letters
May 2005
The U.S. Treasury Department has lifted the embargo that prevented the circulation of books and journal articles from authors who live in Iran, Cuba, or Sudan. These regulations prohibited literary, scientific, political, and artistic works, as well as collaborations among scholars, from being edited by U.S. publishers without government permission. Click here to read more. CAA Needs Your Copyright Anecdotes!
March 2005
The College Art Association is preparing to file formal comments with the U.S. Copyright Office in support of a proposal to alter the current copyright law to address the problem of "orphan works"— works that are still in copyright, but where the copyright holder cannot be found and the rights cleared. Click here to read more. Open Letter to the New York City Parks Department
March 2005
CAA and the National Coalition Against Censorship have co-signed a letter calling for the New York City Parks Department not to adopt a proposed rule banning controversial art. Click here to read more. CAA Responds to FBI Investigation of Steve Kurtz and Members of the Critical Art Ensemble
June 2004
Letter to the Editor at the New York TimesTo the Editor:
David Staba's June 7th article highlights the vulnerability of the freedom of artistic expression since the enactment of the USA Patriot Act. Based on Staba's report, Steve Kurtz's detention and the grand jury investigation being faced by him and some fellow members of the Critical Art Ensemble appear unwarranted. Such actions adversely affect art and arts-related institutions and chill the right of Americans to question authority. Click here to read more.
Support Academic Freedom in Foreign Language and International Studies
March 2004
Background - In October 2003 the House passed by unanimous voice vote HR 3077 to reauthorize Title VI -- the section of the Higher Education Act (HEA) dealing with foreign language and international studies. It was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee which is likely take it up during 2004. The House bill contains several improvements over present legislation, but it also includes an advisory board for Title VI projects. The HR 3077 advisory board would have extraordinary powers to investigate individual faculty members and specific classes on campus that are of concern to many because of its significant potential for politicization.Click here to read more.
Art Now
March 2002
The National Coalition Against Censor- ship announces Art Now, which can found online at www.ncac.org/projects/ art_now/main.html. Art Now is an online register of artistic responses to the events of September 11 and their aftermath, and a discussion forum on related issues. Art Now archives responses from artists and curators in all media, as well as the work of performance spaces, museums, and art-related websites, as they develop from documentation and memorials to critical explorations of the present and future. The Art Now Discussion Forum is hosting a conversation on the ethical, political, and historical aspects of creative statement in times of crisis. Click here to read more. CAA Joins the Network for Education and Academic Rights
September 2001
In July of this year, CAA was one of twenty-one education-related organizations from around the world that joined the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR). NEAR posts information on its website, www.nearinternational.org, concerning human rights in education and breaches of academic freedoms. It also sends alerts to member organizations so that they in turn can inform their respective members. CAA’s participation in NEAR is in keeping with its long-standing commitment to the support of academic freedom. In 1970, CAA adopted the American Association of University Professors’ 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure with 1970 Interpretive Comments, which promotes public understanding and support of academic freedom and tenure and agreement upon procedures to assure these protections in colleges and universities. Click here to read more.