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Landmark Obscenity Trial: HOWL film and discussion, Friday 9/24

By |2020-01-03T13:38:35-05:00September 23rd, 2010|Blog|

Beat-icon Allen Ginsberg is getting a resurgence of attention, 13 years after his death at the age of 70. A movie based on the story behind Ginsberg's signature poem, HOWL, opens this Friday, September 24. It stars James Franco as the young poet embroiled in a 1957 obscenity trial over the poem, which ended in a landmark win for free [...]

Public Funding of the Arts, Free Speech and Self-Censorship

By |2024-08-02T16:38:50-04:00September 14th, 2010|Blog|

Tomorrow, September 15 at 6:30 PM, NCAC and the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, presents the first of two FREE panels on art and censorship. Panel 1, “Survival vs. Autonomy: Public Funding of the Arts, Free Speech and Self-Censorship”, examines how the introduction of the decency clause and culture wars over arts funding in general have contributed to [...]

How Obscene is This! The Decency Clause Turns 20

By |2020-01-03T13:38:29-05:00September 1st, 2010|Blog|

When it was founded in the 1960s, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a central part of its  mission was to support individuals and institutions producing edgy and innovative artwork. Twenty years ago, as a result of pressures on behalf of Republicans in Congress and the religious right, Congress amended the statute governing the NEA to require that it [...]

What’s new in Censorship News, Summer 2010

By |2020-01-03T13:37:41-05:00May 19th, 2010|Blog|

Get news in your inbox. Submit your email address to receive Censorship News delivered straight to you. You’ll get a pdf of the print version of Censorship News as well as regular updates on censorship issues. In this issue of Censorship News, an Indiana community ponders the value of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon: To read, or Not to Read, [...]

First Amendment Upheld in US v Stevens

By |2020-01-03T13:37:37-05:00April 21st, 2010|Blog|

In a much anticipated decision, the Supreme Court yesterday struck down a federal statute making it a crime to create, sell or possess “a depiction of animal cruelty.” In the 8 – 1 opinion, the Court characterized the law as "a criminal prohibition of alarming breadth," because of its potential to criminalize a vast array of legally protected expression, including [...]

NCAC joins letter asking Congress for hearings on the unlawful destruction of DOJ emails

By |2020-01-03T13:37:26-05:00March 11th, 2010|Blog|

Concerned because the deletion of government emails has hampered investigations into possible official wrong-doing, NCAC joins OpenTheGovernment.org in requesting Congress to act to insure the preservation of government records. "Concerned with government openness and accountability," the letter reads, "the undersigned organizations respectfully request ... hearings on the apparent destruction of e-mails in the Department of Justice to determine how the [...]

Internet Freedom Under Threat

By |2024-08-23T10:37:50-04:00March 8th, 2010|Blog|

The United States has a tradition of generally broad protection of freedom of speech, which has persisted in the Internet age.  Thus American courts have struck down most laws attempting to limit content on the Internet, including provisions of the Communications Decency Act restricting indecent speech on the Internet (in Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)) [...]

Bike for Free Speech: a Two Man Trans-America Bicycle Ride Benefits NCAC

By |2019-03-07T23:06:31-05:00March 1st, 2010|Blog|

Matthew Sottile and Dawson Burke of Connecticut will “Bike for Progress.”  On April 5, 2010, the two high school friends will begin their trans-America journey, cycling from Baltimore, Maryland to Canon Beach, Oregon in support of free speech.  All pledges and sponsorship for “Bike for Progress” will be generously donated to NCAC. The cross-country trip has been in the works [...]

YouTube restores Amy Greenfield’s videos

By |2024-08-16T11:10:44-04:00February 26th, 2010|Blog|

Last week, NCAC and EFF protested YouTube's removal of work by acclaimed video-artist Amy Greenfield. NCAC applauds YouTube for so promptly responding to our letter and restoring Amy Greenfield's videos to its site (there are still some technical glitches but we are assured these will be taken care of soon). We are glad the company affirms that creativity and free [...]

NCAC Calls for Reinstatement of Tenured U of Colo Professor

By |2019-03-07T23:00:41-05:00February 19th, 2010|Blog|

NCAC joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in filing a friend of the court brief calling for the reinstatement of Ward Churchill, who was fired from his tenured position at the University of Colorado after writing a controversial essay.  The case became highly politically charged after public officials began to call for [...]

Political Opinions: “A good enough reason” to ban books?

By |2024-08-26T13:50:40-04:00February 9th, 2010|Blog|

In the children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, the title character answers the question of the title with, “I see a red bird looking at me.” For one member of the elected Texas Board of Education, the bird’s color could have been confirmation of her suspicion that the picture book promoted Communism.  But then again, Board [...]

Google and the Snake

By |2024-08-02T16:38:44-04:00January 22nd, 2010|Blog|

It is, literally, an old story. In the legend of the boy and the snake, a venomous snake asks a boy for help, and promises not to bite him. When the snake bites the boy despite his help, and the boy asks why, the snake says, “because I am a snake.” The boy in the story learns an important lesson: [...]

Forget staging “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”

By |2020-01-03T13:36:26-05:00December 16th, 2009|Blog|

This week, in a decision that is likely to limit what theaters decide to produce, Colorado's Supreme Court upheld the state's ban on theatrical smoking. The 2006 Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking inside public buildings. This is something we welcome! However, contrary to the situation in other states where smoking on stage is exempt, Colorado performers are banned [...]

Against Gov. Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts State Senate’s wishes, UMass allows Levasseur to speak

By |2020-01-03T13:36:18-05:00November 10th, 2009|Blog|

The attempted cancellation of Ray Luc Levasseur’s talk at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, under pressure from Governor Patrick’s office, raises serious concerns not only about the state of academic freedom at the University but also about the Governor’s respect for the First Amendment. UMass, in an effort to educate students about the social unrest that occurred during the [...]

Plaid Ribbons for Pornography Awareness

By |2020-01-03T13:36:15-05:00October 30th, 2009|Blog|

[Dr. Marty Klein – a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified Sex Therapist, and sociologist with a special interest in public policy and sexuality – is our guest blogger today! We post from his great blog, Sexual Intelligence, from October 25.] This week is WRAP Week: White Ribbons Against Pornography. Sponsored by groups including Concerned Women for America (CWA) and [...]

Library Board refuses to censor book from teen section

By |2019-03-13T18:20:11-04:00August 18th, 2009|Blog|

The Effingham Helen Matthes Library Board in Effingham, Illinois voted unanimously to deny a request to censor Living Dead Girl, a novel by Elizabeth Scott. Local parent, Amy Hibdon formally requested that the book be removed from the library, or at least the teen section, after her 15-year-old daughter checked out the book and was reportedly upset by the content [...]

Images of Muhammad Banned from Book by Yale Press

By |2020-01-03T13:34:22-05:00August 13th, 2009|Blog|

The NY Times reports today that Yale University Press has not only decided to remove the controversial Danish cartoons of Muhammad from "Cartoons that Shook the World" by Jytte Klausen;  they have decided that all images of Muhammad have to go on the recommendation of a group of "diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism". "...they suggested that the Yale [...]

Land of Free Expression…? Map of Book Censorship in the USA Suggests Otherwise

By |2020-01-05T23:18:42-05:00August 13th, 2009|Blog|

Being so busy with campaigns promoting “freedom and democracy” in the Middle East and central Asia, it’s hardly surprising that most of us here in the United States are unaware of an archaic and abominable practice that continues here at home - book banning. The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP), a collaboration of NCAC and the American Booksellers Foundation [...]

CDC Report Shows Why Teens Need Comprehensive Sex Ed. Now

By |2020-01-03T13:34:09-05:00July 30th, 2009|Blog|

Health education that consists of only an abstinence-only message has disturbing consequences. By depriving teenagers of access to information about their health and bodies in schools, it makes them vulnerable to STD/s and unwanted early pregnancies. The problems of censoring sexual health education are reflected in a recent report released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The report [...]

NCAC Files Brief in U.S. v. Stevens, Urging Supreme Court to Reject “Invitation to Censorship”

By |2019-03-15T15:29:03-04:00July 28th, 2009|Blog|

In a friend-of-the-court brief filed this week in an important Supreme Court free speech case, NCAC, joined by the College Art Association, warned that a law banning depictions of animal cruelty violates the First Amendment right to free speech, and the exemption it provides for work with “serious value” rings hollow, given the long history of censorship of disturbing or unpopular [...]

Art Teacher Rips Penis Off Student Sculpture

By |2024-08-23T19:55:01-04:00January 8th, 2009|Blog|

A student's sculpture project at South Kingstown High School was mutilated by her art teacher even before it was completed. The reason was that the anatomically correct figure sported a penis. Apparently penises could be viewed by students when they are studying art, but not reproduced in their own art work. While requiring student sculpture to be true to the [...]

NC State Update

By |2019-03-07T22:31:39-05:00December 15th, 2008|Blog|

An incident at North Carolina State University in early November involving hateful words directed at President-elect Obama has sparked debate on campus about the extent to which Hate Speech is Free Speech. The debate has apparently spread to the UNC  campus as well. ABC News, Chapel Hill reports: After the controversy over racist comments spray-painted in the Free Expression Tunnel [...]

The Absolutely True Story of a Book Banning

By |2020-01-02T15:33:32-05:00December 11th, 2008|Blog|

Sometimes, book banning is as simple as: Parent complains to school board about book (offending excerpts in hand). School board member agrees book is “inappropriate.” Good-bye, good literature. The Crook County School Board in Prineville, Oregon, did just that with nationally-renowned author Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award-winning young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.  The book [...]

RENT CANCELED

By |2019-03-12T18:28:00-04:00December 11th, 2008|News|

Rowlett High School (TX)  has canceled a scheduled production the musical, RENT: School Edition,  after controversy arose over the play's content. the Dallas Morning News reports: After weeks of community debate and a packed school board meeting, the school's theater director canceled the upcoming performances of Rent: School Edition. ''In light of everything that has happened, I need to think [...]

ACLU’s case for Professor Adam Habib continues

By |2020-01-02T15:33:24-05:00December 9th, 2008|Blog|

Professor Adam Habib has been barred from speaking at US universities, presumably for his critique of the US and Middle East foreign policies. Today, After the government moved to dismiss the case, Judge George O’Toole of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the case will proceed. A South African scholar, Habib has written at the [...]

Cuba and Academic Freedom

By |2019-03-12T18:32:21-04:00November 12th, 2008|Blog|

There’s been a new development in the ongoing debate about whether colleges should be allowed to have study abroad programs in Cuba. On November 10th a federal appeals court upheld a decision that has limited academic travel to Cuba. Currently, a Bush administration federal rule only allows academic travel to Cuba if the trip lasts over ten weeks, and states [...]

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