Monthly Archives: August 2012

Respect Youth Free Expression, Give Kaitlin Nootbaar Her Diploma

By |2020-01-03T14:17:12-05:00August 30th, 2012|Incidents|

NCAC weighed in on the controversy surrounding Prague High School Valedicatorian Kaitlin Nootbaar's use of the word "hell" in her gradution speech. In a letter to the Superindendent of the Oklahoma School District, NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), urged the district to give Nootbaar the diploma she rightfully earned.

Missourian Publishes “Unfit to Read” Banned Book Project

By |2019-03-14T17:46:47-04:00August 29th, 2012|Blog|

A belated update, but one worth taking a second look at if you've seen it already. Missouri School of Journalism Associate Professor Charles Davis organized a group of students in working on an awesome project about book challenges in schools from across the state. Using Freedom of Information Act Requests, the participants gathered data on censorship issues in Missouri and [...]

“Robopocalypse” Challenge in Knoxville, TN

By |2020-01-03T13:48:00-05:00August 28th, 2012|Blog|

This summer, the Hardin Valley Academy wanted to keep its STEM students interested in school subjects during their vacation. After determining that the best way to do this was probably not by assigning weekly physics equations, the school assigned Daniel H. Wilson's best-selling sci-fi novel Robopocalypse (Doubleday) as the program's summer read. A parent of an incoming freshman voiced his concerns [...]

Challenged Social Studies Textbook To Remain in MD Schools

By |2020-01-03T14:17:12-05:00August 20th, 2012|Incidents|

The Frederick County Board of Education decided to retain the textbook Social Studies Alive! Our Community and Beyond, which had come under challenge after parents objected to "left-leaning" or "socialist" statements in the text. The Kids' Right to Read Project issued a letter urging the Board not to remove the book because of objections to its content.

NCAC Talks Textbook Censorship on Pacifica Radio

By |2019-03-07T21:45:42-05:00August 11th, 2012|Blog|

NCAC was invited to join Thresholds, a show on KPFT Pacifica radio out of Houston Texas in a conversation about textbook censorship and Texas and beyond. Kids' Right to Read Project Coordinator Acacia O'Connor spoke about the dangers of the censoring impulse alongside Rene Bellwied, Theoretical Physicist and member of the National STEM Committee. Texas is notorious for its desire [...]

“User Generated Censorship” Talk at Knight Foundation

By |2020-01-03T13:47:59-05:00August 1st, 2012|Blog|

NCAC board member Chris Peterson gave an excellent presentation --as part of a MIT Civic Ignite program with the Knight Foundation-- on how "user generated censorship" can emerge in social media like Digg and Facebook . Chris' talk starts at about 9:43 but the whole video is full of great information for free speech defenders. Update: You can watch a [...]

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