The House of Representatives voted to exempt library and bookstores from FBI searches allowed under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. The Freedom to Read Act, introduced by Rep. Bernie Sanders (VT), cuts funding for such searches by amending the House Appropriations Bill.
NCAC is launching The Knowledge Project, a new program examining the clash between First Amendment principles of free expression and government suppression or distortion of scientific information. Announcing the new initiative, Executive Director Joan E. Bertin said: “This project will call attention to the erosion of our country’s knowledge base and the rise of anti-intellectualism as a national credo. Beyond [...]
On September 29, NCAC marked Banned Books Week with a program co-sponsored by PEN and ABFFE, featuring readings by authors of banned and challenged books for young adults: Judy Blume, Robert Lipsyte, Walter Dean Myers, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Deborah Hautzig. Peter Sis, and Rita Williams-Garcia. The setting was Free Speech Zone, an installation by artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese [...]
The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), was enacted by Congress to establish an alternative to commercial television to inform, enlighten, and enrich the public and reflect America's common values and cultural diversity.
Letter from NCAC, NCTE, ABFFE. AAP, and PEN American Center to Fayetteville Public Schools Superintendent Click Here for a July 24th editorial on NCAC's action July 12, 2005 Dr. Bobby C. New Superintendent Fayetteville Public Schools P.O. Box 849 Fayetteville, AR 72702-0849 Dear Dr. New: We are writing to express concern about efforts to censor library books in the Fayetteville [...]
Letter from NCAC, NCTE, ABFFE. AAP, and PEN American Center to Fayetteville Public Schools Superintendent July 12, 2005 Dr. Bobby C. New Superintendent Fayetteville Public Schools P.O. Box 849 Fayetteville, AR 72702-0849 Dear Dr. New: We are writing to express concern about efforts to censor library books in the Fayetteville School District. According to reports we have received, a parent [...]
Rick Piltz, a Senior Associate at the Climate Change Science Program who resigned in March, has charged that political officials have been editing scientific reports dealing with climate change. His charges have focused specifically on Philip Cooney, the chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Mr. Cooney is a lawyer who previously worked as a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute.
In 1807, an Englishman named Thomas Bowdler published the first, sanitized edition of The Family Shakespeare. He promised that he had removed from Shakespeare's works "everything that can raise a blush on the cheek of modesty."
Forever, Judy Blume's 30-year old novel, beloved by teens, still shocks some adults.
A music censorship timeline compiled by the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Websites looking at music censorship and free expression in music.
Creationists have been battling the teaching of evolution at least since the Scopes Trial of 1925.
House OKs restriction on gay-themed books By Michael McNutt The Oklahoman The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Monday to urge library officials to restrict children's access to books with homosexual themes. House Resolution 1039, by state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, calls on Oklahoma libraries to "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access [...]
Which is worse? A fleeting glimpse of a Janet Jackson's breast, or a commentator hyping a government program without disclosing he was paid to do it? A single expletive, or phoney news reports about Medicare from a former reporter?
In March 2005, Lakewood, CO City Manager Mike Rock ordered the removal of an art exhibit from the city's Cultural Center after three City Council members called it "anti-American and anti-military."
Letter to the Superintendent and Board of Ed in Grand Rapids, MI About the Removal of Athletic Shorts March 15, 2005 Superintendent Bert Bleke 1331 Franklin SE Grand Rapids, MI 49501 Grand Rapids Board of Education Board of Education Office of the GRPS 1331 Franklin SE Grand Rapids, MI 49501 Dear Superintendent Bleke and Members of the School Board: We [...]
City Council members Tom Booher, Jackie Herbst, and Ray Elliot justified the decision to remove the piece that they found offensive on the basis that the exhibition was publicly funded. Such a position displays a disturbing misunderstanding of public officials' obligations under the First Amendment.
Recently, Principal Cheryl Alligood of Wellington High School in Wellington, Florida, confiscated copies of the school newspaper, The Wave, over an article about sex. She claims she did "what was best for the student body." We think her decision taught students the wrong lesson. School papers provide a critical forum for expression and discussion for students. Unlike the classroom, students make [...]
Exhibition of Greek Goddess Cancelled, Then Approved Roseburg Oregon Posted February 25, 2005 Hebe, the Greek Goddess of Youth, recently embroiled the town of Roseburg Oregon in a conflict of mythic magnitude over the role of public officials in curatorial decision making. Officials of the Douglas County Museum, located in Roseburg, were planning an exhibition on Hebe - a character [...]
The book Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher, has become controversial in Grand Rapids, Michigan, because one of the stories contains the word "nigger." After a parent complained, the teacher was suspended and the book was removed from the schools, including the libraries. Controversy over racially sensitive themes and language is not new. For example, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is [...]
February 15, 2005 Chancellor Phillip P. DiStefano Members of the Board of Regents University of Colorado Re: Professor Ward Churchill Dear Chancellor DiStefano and Members ...
Ohio is the latest state to encounter proposed legislation to adopt an "academic bill of rights" for colleges and universities. ...
We understand that the Education Committee is presently considering a bill, SB 24, to adopt an "academic bill of rights" in higher education. Contrary to what the name suggests, the proposal would restrict, not enhance, academic freedom and intellectual activity
by Ward Churchill When queried by reporters concerning his views on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Malcolm ...
Earlier this month, Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY, cancelled a talk by University of Colorado Boulder Professor Ward Churchill because of threats of violence...
On her second day as Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings sent a letter to PBS in which she pressured the network into canceling an episode of "Postcards from Buster," a children's program intended to teach about diversity. The program, which is about making maple syrup and dairy farming in Vermont, features a household headed by two women. Their relationship [...]
by Ward Churchill In the last few days there has been widespread and grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning my analysis of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, coverage that has resulted in defamation of my character and threats against my life. What I actually said has been lost, indeed turned into the opposite [...]
Update: NCAC has been advised that Superintendent Dozier has chosen to retain Whale Talk. We congratulate him on his decision. NCAC Letter to Georgetown School District Superintendent of Schools About Excluding Books From High School Curriculum January 26, 2005 Dr. Randy Dozier Superintendent of Schools Georgetown School District 2018 Church Street Georgetown, SC 29440 Dear Superintendent Dozier: I write to [...]
A mural containing a classical nude has become the target of police harassment in the small town of Pilot Point in Northern Texas. Wes Miller, owner of the gallery on whose wall the nude is painted has received a police notice claiming the mural is in violation of the Texas Penal Code 43.24 banning the sale, distribution and display of [...]
ACLU Says Texas Police Violated Art Gallery Owner's Freedom of Expression Police Forced Artist to Cover Classical Image of Nude "Eve" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 11, 2005 DALLAS—The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas today announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the city of Pilot Point and its police department, charging that police officers violated an art gallery [...]
Students enrolled in federally-funded abstinence-only sex education programs are misinformed about science, deprived of vital health information, and exposed to gender stereotypes and religious dogma, according to a Congressional study commissioned by California Representative Henry A. Waxman.
Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger's frequently challenged coming-of-age novel, will remain in the ninth grade curriculum at Noble High in North Berwick, ME. The school board rejected a request to ban the book for offensive language and themes. The board agreed to revise procedures to inform parents about book selections.
In response to a lawsuit filed by PEN American Center and other groups, the Treasury Department revised regulations that embargoed books and journal articles whose authors live in Iran, Cuba, or Sudan.
At the new Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan on November 16, NCAC Friends enjoyed a gala evening celebrating 30 years of work in defense of the First Amendment. The 30th Anniversary Chair and MC was Chip Gibson, President and Publisher of Random House Children's Books.
Issue 96, Winter 2004-2005 "Freedom of speech is the linchpin on which other rights depend," said Joan Bertin (left) at NCAC's 30th Anniversary celebration, as she thanked NCAC friends for their support. Joel Hollander (right), President and COO of Infinity Broadcasting, said, "The FCC's efforts to tighten regulation of broadcasters under its power to enforce standards of decency [...]
30 years ago, when NCAC was founded, the McCarthy era was relatively fresh in people's minds and served as a massive civics lesson about the value of freedom of speech. For those who didn't recall McCarthyism, the Vietnam war era provided an even more recent object lesson about the importance of open government, accountability, and dissent.
Alessandro G. Olivieri, General Counsel NYC Department of Parks & Recreation The Arsenal, Central Park 830 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10021 Re: Notice of Proposed Rule, Title 58, Ch. 2, §2-16 Dear Mr. Olivieri: On behalf of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations united in defense of free expression, and the College Art [...]
A political satire entitled Richie Bush by cartoonist Peter Kuper, of Mad Magazine and 'Spy vs. Spy' fame, is one of two stories from the Eastern European comic anthology Stripburger that has caused several books from a recent shipment to the port of Charleston to be seized by U.S. Customs.
Political Satire Out! New York NY Posted December 20, 2004 After a Chelsea Market manager saw "Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, he closed down the whole 60-piece show, which included the work. From afar, "Bush Monkeys" looks like a portrait of President Bush, but when you get closer you see the image is made [...]
A federal district court in Dallas dismissed a lawsuit against the state for rejecting an environmental science textbook the commissioners didn't like. The case, Chiras v. Miller, brought by Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, charged that the textbook was rejected for "illegitimate, unconstitutional reasons." The commissioners had turned the book down for failing to adequately present the oil and gas [...]
