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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
Letter
from National Organizations
Opposing Interference of the Kansas
State Legislature in Academic Affairs
Governor
Kathleen Sebelius
Office
of the Governor
Topeka KS
Honorable Governor Sebelius,
We protest the amendment to the 2003/04 Kansas State budget that would eliminate funding for the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas, as well as for any academic unit that purchases "obscene" videos for educational purposes. The amendment is an attack on academic freedom and, quite likely, a violation of the First Amendment.
The Kansas statute provides that material is obscene if, among other considerations, it lacks "serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value." That the legislation has targeted as "obscene" material taught by a professional educator and considered educationally valuable by the University administration is an impermissible interference of the legislature in academic affairs. It imperils teachers' right to teach and students' right to learn. Such an action puts the legislature in a position of determining academic curricula, which is not its purpose.
The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly defined the university as the "quintessential marketplace of ideas" that warrants heightened First Amendment protection: even if other considerations compel limiting some forms of speech elsewhere, the university is the first and foremost place where it should be possible to express ideas without imposing conditions on them.
We strongly urge you to veto the amendment.
With respect:
National
Coalition Against Censorship
American Association of University
Professors
American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties
Union of Kansas and Western Missouri
American Booksellers Foundation
for Free Expression
First Amendment Project
Freedom to Read Foundation
Office
for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association
Online Policy Group / QueerNet
Sexuality Information and
Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
NCAC Committee
on Sex and Censorship Members:
Prof. Leonore Tiefer, PhD.,
Clinical Associate Professor New York University School of
Medicine
Prof. Carlin Meyer, New York University School of Law
Peggy Brick, author & sexuality education consultant
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