This is a pasted transcription of the original letter available online at: indefenseofanimals.org/news/currentnews/nr_081205.html

December 2, 2008

Contact: Dr. Elliot Katz, 415-448-0048 x. 225

Animal Protection Organization Calls For Reinstatement Of Suspended

San Francisco Art Institute Professor John Rapko

San Rafael, Cal. – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization with over 80,000 members, today released a letter calling for the reinstatement of suspended San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) Professor John Rapko. Professor Rapko was suspended in March following his criticism of an SFAI exhibit entitled “Don’t Trust Me,” which featured video of six animals being bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer. The exhibit led to widespread condemnation of SFAI and its President, Chris Bratton, from the public and the arts community.

In the November 12 letter to the SFAI Grievance Committee, which still has not been responded to by SFAI, Dr. Elliot M. Katz, a veterinarian and president of IDA, urged Professor Rapko’s immediate reinstatement. Dr. Katz stated that the ongoing suspension of Professor Rapko confirmed “a pattern of vindictiveness that occurs when [SFAI President] Chris Bratton’s ideas and choices are questioned.”

After receiving critical emails from numerous artists, members of IDA, and the general public, President Bratton’s vengeful behavior toward those who judged his actions unfavorably began to surface.  When interviewed by an ABC reporter, President Bratton accused IDA’s Dr. Katz by name of directly coordinating death threats against him. The station wisely chose not to air Bratton’s specific accusations.

Bratton then took his scathing vindictiveness public in a piece he had published in one of England’s art magazines. Rather than focus primarily on the art exhibit, he chose to attack IDA.

“When Professor Rapko openly challenged the appropriateness of the exhibit, as so many others did, he experienced the full brunt of Bratton’s malice and contempt” said Dr. Katz, leading to a suspension that, absurdly, remains in force today.

Professor Rapko exemplifies the best in professors, encouraging debate and questioning. His suspension should be immediately lifted.

A copy of Dr. Katz’s letter to Professor Brett Reichman, Chair, Grievance Committee,

San Francisco Art Institute, is attached.

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Professor Brett Reichman                                                                                   November 12, 2008

Chair, Grievance Committee

San Francisco Art Institute   

Dear Professor Reichman,

My name is Dr. Elliot M. Katz. I am a veterinarian and president of In Defense of Animals, an 80,000- member international animal protection/advocacy organization. I write you today regarding the fallout that has occurred surrounding the exhibition by the Algerian-French artist, Adel Abdessemed, titled “Don’t Trust Me”, in particular the ongoing controversy over the suspension of Professor John Rapko, and a pattern of vindictiveness that occurs when Chris Bratton’s ideas and choices are questioned.

When I first learned of the “Don’t Trust Me” exhibit, I visited SFAI to evaluate for myself the extent of the cruelty and killings against animals involved in the show. After witnessing the gratuitous nature of the violence, my organization issued a press release, and wrote letters and emails advocating for the closing of the exhibit. Among the attachments, please note the press releases from my organization, as well from the S.F. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SFSPCA). Our joint concerns were later covered by the broader media.

After receiving critical emails from numerous artists, members of IDA, the SF SPCA, and the general public, President Bratton’s vengeful behavior toward those who judged his actions unfavorably began to surface.  When interviewed by an ABC reporter President Bratton accused me by name of directly coordinating death threats against him. The station wisely chose not to air Bratton’s specific accusations against me, or Bratton and SFAI would have had a libel suit on their hands.

Bratton then took his scathing vindictiveness public in a piece he had published in one of England’s art magazines. Rather than focus primarily on the art exhibit, he chose to viciously attack my organization and the animal rights community in general (see attached).

Where he did include a description of “Don’t Trust Me” he described it thusly: “The exhibition included six video monitors of images recorded by the artist of the slaughter of farm animals at the point of their deaths. These events occurred in a rural community in Mexico where the animals were raised, purchased, and professionally slaughtered.”

For me, and for many others, describing the brutal and senseless killing of a young deer with a sledge- hammer, as the killing of a “farm animal” who was “raised, purchased and professionally slaughtered,” is the height of absurdity and blatant distortion of the actual situation. 

Unfortunately, when Professor Rapko openly challenged the appropriateness of the exhibit, as so many others did, he experienced the full brunt of Bratton’s malice and contempt; in hindsight, a scenario that seems to be his modus operandi.

From all I have read and heard, Professor Rapko exemplifies the best in professors, the best in humanity. That does not seem to be the case with Chris Bratton. He truly does a disservice to the SFAI, the educational system, and to the art world in general. Along with press releases from IDA and the SFSPCA, I have included the published pieces by Chris Bratton and John Rapko.

Respectfully,

Elliot M. Katz, DVM, President, IDA

<This letter is available online at: indefenseofanimals.org/news/currentnews/nr_081205.html and was posted here by J. Menzies. Please feel free to contact the administrator of this page for further information.>