Monthly Archives: April 2014

Baptist College seizes student newspaper, mutes LGBT community

By |2020-01-03T14:44:00-05:00April 30th, 2014|Blog|

Cedarville University officials in Ohio confiscated and halted distribution of the independent student newspaper The Ventriloquist after it featured two essays critical of the school’s attitude toward gay students. “The Final Decision” tells the story of Avery Redic, who was removed from student government and other school leadership positions after coming out, and “Fear at Cedarville” seeks to open a [...]

“Two Boys Kissing” Book Challenge Rejected by Fauquier Review Committee, Decision Could Be Appealed

By |2020-01-03T14:43:58-05:00April 29th, 2014|Updates|

According to Fauquier.com, a Fauquier County Public Schools review committee has unanimously rejected a book challenge that would have removed David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing from the high school library. NCAC's Kids' Right To Read Project sent a letter to the school board prior to the meeting, warning that removing the book based on objections to the content was a disservice [...]

Why Half a Million Books Were Given Away For World Book Night, and How You Can Get a Free Ebook Now

By |2020-01-03T14:43:57-05:00April 24th, 2014|Blog|

World Book Night is an annual celebration of reading for pleasure, and the fun of passing on a book to someone in your community. Each year, 30-35 books are chosen by an independent panel of librarians and booksellers for distribution on the evening of April 23rd. The authors waive their royalties and the publishers cover the cost of producing a [...]

“Two Boys Kissing” could be purged from Fauquier High School library

By |2020-01-03T14:43:56-05:00April 23rd, 2014|Incidents|

Update: A review committee unanimously decided to keep the book, though an appeal is possible. NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has written the Fauquier County Public Schools superintendent and board with regard to a challenge to David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing in the Fauquier High School library, because of objections to the same-sex themes explored in the book. We [...]

60 Years Ago Today: The US Senate Puts Comics on Trial!

By |2017-01-26T15:44:45-05:00April 22nd, 2014|Blog|

What a difference 60 years can make. On this day, in 1954, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency was closing out a second day of hearings. These two days would prove a pivotal period in comics history, lead...

Read an excerpt from Svetlana Mintcheva’s essay in the new “Handbook on Intellectual Freedom”

By |2020-01-03T14:43:55-05:00April 14th, 2014|Blog|

We're excited about the just-released Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom because, in addition to being a landmark resource on the state of free inquiry and expression, it features a new essay by NCAC's Svetlana Mintcheva on censorship, past and present, in the arts. Library Juice talks about the need for this handbook on their blog: The existing reference literature on intellectual [...]

The Muzzles Are Here! TJ Center Announces Best Censors of 2014

By |2019-03-07T22:29:00-05:00April 10th, 2014|Blog|

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, a member of the NCAC-led Free Expression Network, today revealed the winners of the 23rd annual Jefferson Muzzles, an award bestowed on individuals and institutions responsible for some of the more egregious or ridiculous affronts to First Amendment principles occurring in the previous year. This year's dubious honorees range from high [...]

Huxley’s Classic ‘Brave New World’ Targeted in Delaware

By |2022-09-23T11:58:16-04:00April 10th, 2014|Incidents|

NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has sent a letter to the Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware to warn against labeling Aldous Huxley's 20th Century classic Brave New World as potentially "inappropriate" for some Advanced Placement English students, as has been proposed by school board members. Though no one on the board has yet proposed that the book be removed [...]

Secret without Reason and Costly without Accomplishment: Questioning the National Security Agency’s Metadata Program

By |2020-01-03T14:43:54-05:00April 4th, 2014|Blog|

Mueller, John & Mark G. Stewart, "Secret without Reason and Costly without Accomplishment: Questioning the National Security Agency's Metadata Program," I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society (2014) Download a PDF. Excerpt When Edward Snowden’s revelations emerged in June 2013 about the extent to which the National Security Agency was secretly gathering communications data as part of the country’s [...]

Panel of Video Game Experts Push Beyond the Negative Hype

By |2016-01-14T14:57:00-05:00April 1st, 2014|Blog|

In what ways are video games like comic books, or early cartoons? What educational purposes do they serve? What do they teach us about ourselves? Can designing and playing video games make us better people? NCAC invited a panel of gaming designers and educators to open up these questions during our Video Games in the Crosshairs film screening this past [...]

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