During 1994, two students sent letters to the Chair of the Art Department, Dr. W, expressing concerns with Kurt's classes and style of teaching; the letters were added to Kurt's personnel file. When he learned of this, Kurt complained that the Chair and Dean's actions were inappropriate, and he appealed the matter to the University President, Donald Gerth. Kurt's letter (excerpted) is characteristically erudite and forceful, speaking not only to his teaching methods and the intent behind them, but also the unfortunate tendency of the then Art Department Chair to attempt to force Kurt to use teaching methods which in his opinion "seeks to impose its elitist, sexist, racist views by claiming for its authoritarian methods the only academic validity: indoctrination with names and dates of the canonical works of art as memorized by rote."
