The Huffington Post reported last week that Senator Patty Murray of Washington will reintroduce the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act after learning of harassment suffered by one of her interns while attending college. The intern’s ...
In a disturbing development that directly threatens the freedom to imagine, rap lyrics are being brought in as evidence in criminal trials (New York Times story). An amicus brief (below) filed by the New Jersey chapter of NCAC participating organization, the American Civil Liberties Union, argues That a rap artist wrote lyrics seemingly embracing the world of violence is no [...]
Mark your calendars! On April 4th NCAC will be celebrating 404 Day, a day dedicated to the issue of internet censorship in public schools and libraries. Along with 404 Day partners the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the MIT Center for Civic Media, we are spreading the word and calling on You to share your stories!
Tomorrow is opening night for Trumbull High School students and for a performance of the musical Rent that almost wasn't.
In celebration of Sunshine Week, we're dipping into our files of our many open records requests from censorship incidents around the country.
This week is Sunshine week, a nation-wide celebration of open access in government. Sunshine week was started in 2002 by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors in response to proposed legislation that would have severely undermined the state's open records law. We at NCAC are frequent users of state records requests, particularly to bolster our work on individual censorship cases. [...]
With by now predictable regularity, student activism - and even academic debate - on the conflict in the Middle East is met with punitive sanctions and attempts at silencing. Such attempts exist on both sides, but disproportionately punish students and speakers critical of Israeli politics. The latest episode took place this March on the Campus of Northeastern University, where a [...]
In a joint letter with the ACLU-SC and eight other partner organizations, NCAC defended academic freedom and criticized attempts by the South Carolina State Legislature to punitively defund state universities for assigning LGBT-themed books.
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), ACLU of South Carolina, American Association of University Professors, Modern Language Association and other free speech organizations today sent a letter (below) to members of the South Carolina Senate criticizing the recent defunding of public institutions of higher learning because of objections to assigned reading. "The proposed budget cuts are designed to punish the [...]
Singer and musician Lapiro de Mbanga from Cameroon – the “unceremonial sheriff of the backyards” – has died, 56 years old. He had been living under asylum in the United States since 2012.
In 2012 we honored author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor as a Free Speech Defender for her groundbreaking Alice series and Shiloh. Shelf Awareness reports that Phyllis was one over 20 authors celebrated last week at the inaugural NoVa Teen Book Festival, founded by an Arlington, VA bookstore in partnership with local schools and libraries. Here's a video of Phyllis speaking (at 1:17) with other [...]
Kennesaw State finally formally announced the reinstatement of Ruth Stanford's “A Walk in the Valley” to the opening exhibition at the new Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art. The piece, a commissioned work about Georgia author Corra Harris' homestead, was taken down two weeks ago, shortly before the formal opening on Saturday, March 1st.
Join NCAC for a day at the movies as we screen the winners of our teen film contest, feed you with free popcorn, and celebrate free expression on the big screen. 3/29 @ New York Film Academy.
In advance of the release of the wildly-anticipated video game South Park: The Stick of Truth, CBLDF reported that some versions of the game were being censored in countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and in Australia. Now that the game is...
Two recent legislative proposals in Maryland and New York - drafted in retaliation against academic organzations' support of academic boycotts against Israel - seek to penalize professional associations and their members for engaging in protected political activity.
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Association of University Professors criticize academic boycotts, but warn public officials against interference with political expression and open discussion and debate.
Welcome to Using Graphic Novels in Education, an ongoing feature from CBLDF that is designed to allay confusion around the content of graphic novels and to help parents and teachers raise readers. In this column, we examine graphic novels, including th...
Rowan University student newspaper The Whit reported late last month on a student petition urging the school to revise its free speech policy in order to address “recent hate speech from non-student organizations on campus.” Assistant Vice Presiden...
Last month, South Carolina’s House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of budget cuts to the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate by amounts matching the money each school spent on required reading programs that incl...
Lawmakers in the Kansas Senate are considering a draconian new bill that would make it easier to prosecute educators and other school officials for using “offensive” materials in classrooms and libraries. Senate Bill 401 was proposed in res...
Last month here on The Torch, I wrote about a misguided and dangerous bill presented in the New York State Legislature. The bill would have effectively denied funding to state universities that support academic groups that boycott Israel, as the Americ...
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas today filed a motion to dismiss 11 charges against Barrett Brown in a criminal prosecution that would have had massive implications for journalism and the right of ordinary people to share links. EF...
Open debate, the right to dissent, and freedom of association are core First Amendment values that are directly threatened by legislative efforts to penalize organizations like ASA for their political positions.
The National Coalition Against Censorship received word that Ruth Stanford's "A Walk in the Valley" has been restored to the Kennesaw State University's Zuckerman Museum of Art. KSU had said “A Walk in the Valley” was pulled because it did not fit the "celebratory nature" of the museum's opening.
