NCAC Warns Scholars – Artistic Expression Demands Protection
NCAC Executive Director Leanne Katz, addressing the Hofstra University Symposium on Law and the Arts in October, expressed concern that some legal academics may be contributing to the worsening climate for the arts in this country.
News Briefs on Laws and Court Cases
President Clinton signed the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, which bans the production and sale of sexually explicit material depicting people who "appear to be" children.
Another Costly Lesson For School Boards As Jury Vindicates Teacher
High school teacher Cissy Lacks was awarded $750,000 by a federal court in a case against a suburban St. Louis school district. Lacks was fired by the Ferguson-Florissant Schools for failing to censor her 11th grade students' creative expression as part of a creative writing assignment in which she asked them to write as they speak. (A federal judge reinstated Lacks in August.)
Will Rib Lake Face Censorship Forever
NCAC Censorship News Issue #64:
Rib Lake High School in Wisconsin is in trouble again. Rib Lake is where censorship actions surrounding Judy Blume's book Forever resulted in a costly judgment (Dishnow v. Rib Lake) against the district (Censorship News 62).
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Word
There seems to be a strange campaign afoot to remove the S-word from our lexicon. Its perpetrators seem to believe that if no one mentions "it," adolescents won't know or think about it and therefore, won't engage in it.
Sticky Solution – Glue the Pages
Rather than allow 5th and 6th graders to read about the Big Bang theory in Discovery Works, a Silver, Burdett and Ginn science textbook, the school superintendent in Marshall County, KY had the offending pages glued together.
Library Displays Art It Had Banned
Artist Robyn Bellospirito's work, including three contested paintings, was displayed at the Manhasset, New York library in 1996. The exhibit had been cancelled in 1993 for violating the library's "no nudes" policy.