- action | issues
- Academic Freedom
- Books
- Classrooms
- Copyright
- Film
- Government Secrecy
- Hate Speech
- Internet
- LGBT
- Libraries
- Music
- Nudity & Pornography
- Political Correctness
- Political Dissent
- Public Spaces
- Race Ethnicity Gender
- Radio & Television
- Religion
- Science
- Sex Education
- Theater & Performance
- Video Games
- Violence
- Visual Art
- Youth
- advocacy | projects
- education | resources
in support of free expression
The information presented here by the National
Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) may be freely redistributed in its entirety,
provided that readers are informed that the information was obtained from
NCAC's World Wide Web site and that credit is given to the appropriate source
of whatever information is used. Permission is expressly granted for the information
obtained to be made available for file transfer from installations offering
unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. Information found here
may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without
the written permission from the National Coalition Against Censorship.
©Copyright 2005 NCAC
WEB DESIGN
Jeanne Criscola Criscola Design
free speech first amendment censorship
Letters from NCAC and Other Organizations to Protest the Disciplining of a Teacher for Assigning Russell Banks' Continental Drift
June 27, 2003
Joel Klein
Chancellor, New York City Department of Education
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007
Dear Chancellor Klein:
As you may recall, we wrote you last January about a censorship incident at Brooklyn Tech High School involving the Russell Banks novel, Continental Drift. More recently, we sent you a copy of our letter to Dr. Lee McCaskill, Principal of Brooklyn Tech, about our on-going concerns about censorship at the school, which are shared by many others in the First Amendment and education community. Copies of both letters are enclosed for your convenience. To date, we have not received a reply to either letter.
We are interested primarily in seeing a resolution to this situation that respects First Amendment and academic freedom interests of students and teachers, and high quality education at Brooklyn Tech. To that end, we join our colleagues, Deborah Karpatkin and Arthur Eisenberg from the New York Civil Liberties Union, in requesting a meeting to discuss how this might be accomplished.
Sincerely,
Joan Bertin
Executive Director
National Coalition Against Censorship
Chris Finan
President
American Booksellers Association for Free Expression
Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write and International Programs
PEN American Center
***
May 22, 2003
Dr. Lee D. McCaskill
Principal
Brooklyn Technical High School
29 Fort Greene Place
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Re: Todd Friedman
Dear Dr. McCaskill:
As you undoubtedly are aware, my organization and a number of other First Amendment groups have been concerned about the fact that a teacher at your school, Todd Friedman, was disciplined last year after a parent complained about sexual content in Russell Banks' novel Continental Drift.
It is gratifying that the discipline letter has been removed from Mr. Friedman's file. However, we are still concerned about the status of Continental Drift, and how the decision to approve or exclude this novel and other materials will be made at Brooklyn Tech.
In your May 12 letter to Mr. Friedman, you indicate that you have "developed a method for selecting and approving reading materials for all classes at Brooklyn Tech," which I assume refers to your May 12 memo to staff on "Supplemental Reading Materials Classroom Libraries." That memo states that "[f]aculty may not use literature to promote political, religious or other personal beliefs. In the selection of non approved material, sexually explicit material may not be distributed to students."
Unfortunately, this policy only heightens our concerns. First, the policy bars books with specific types of content. This contravenes the basic First Amendment rule prohibiting discrimination on the basis of content or viewpoint and chills protected expression. Moreover, it is vague, subjective, and over-inclusive. Virtually all literature promotes personal beliefs. For example, students recently read the poem Somebody Blew Up America, a poem that can only be fully understood in a political context. Sexual content is also not a permissible ground to bar books at the high school level; otherwise, students would be unable to read Romeo and Juliet and Secrets, which was assigned recently apparently without complaint.
It is standard to appoint a committee to review complaints about books, but it is highly unusual to require teachers, especially at the high school level, to obtain prior approval to assign a respected novel as supplemental reading. Such a requirement is time-consuming and plainly chills the selection process. It also provides an opportunity for harassment, which in this situation is a serious concern, given the number and nature of the grievances still pending at Brooklyn Tech.
In sum, even though Mr. Friedman's grievance has technically been resolved, the censorship issue which was at the heart of the situation has not been solved, and actually seems to have gotten worse. The current policy institutionalizes the problem and invites continued dissension and controversy.
The vast majority of high schools in New York City educate their students without violating students' and teachers' First Amendment right to read and speak freely and to explore a wide range of materials and ideas. There is no reason why Brooklyn Tech should not do likewise.
Sincerely,
Joan E. Bertin
Executive Director
National Coalition Against Censorship
Chris Finan
President
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write and International Programs
PEN American Center
cc:
Joel Klein, Chancellor, NYC Department of Education
Randi Weingarten, President, UFT
Reyes Irizarry, Superintendent, Brooklyn and Staten Island High Schools
Judy E. Nathan, First Deputy Council, NYC Dept. of Education
Russell Banks
Deborah Karpatkin, Esq.
Judith Krug, Director, ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
Charles Suhor, National Council of Teachers of English
Action Alerts
