(Update: NCAC signed on to another letter in January 2015 organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology.) NCAC and other organizations concerned with human rights sent the below letter to the Unites States Senate to convey strong opposition to S.2536, the "Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation" (SAVE) Act. While we believe that Congress should provide additional funding for victims [...]
NCAC is joined by the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the National Council of Teachers of English, PEN American Center, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators in a follow-up letter sent to the Highland Park Independent School District in TX. In the letter, we urge [...]
Today, NCAC was joined by the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression (ABFFE), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (ALA), and PEN America in a letter sent to the Kings Canyon Unified School District in Reedley, CA. In the letter, the signatories expressed [...]
(UPDATE: Good news! The students organized and managed to stage their performance at a local playhouse, thanks to a Kickstarter campaign.) NCAC and other organizations committed to artistic and intellectual freedom sent the below letter to Maiden High School in response to the cancellation of the scheduled January production of John Cariani's Almost, Maine due to concerns about the play's content. Although [...]
The audience coming to see John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer on Monday, October 20th, had to pass through a cordon of angry protesters crying "shame" and holding placards condemning the Metropolitan Opera of rather far fetched things like "taking terrorist $$$" or "glorifying terrorism." They must not have succeeded in shaming anyone as the house was full. The few hecklers in the [...]
In a joint letter to the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division and the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, NCAC and the below signatories question the legality of federal watchlisting practices. The letter deems the current system of labeling thousands of people, including American citizens, as suspected terrorists as "bloated and unfair." The signatories [...]
A call to "reject any proposal to restrict the curriculum of students to accommodate the views, values and preferences of some, and instead to rely on the professional judgment of educators."
Update: Teton County School District will not be moving forward with the proposed consent forms. A win for the Kids' Right to Read Project! In response to the controversy over Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya in the Teton County School District, the school board has proposed to require parents to sign written consent forms for assigned books and to offer [...]
NCAC and other free speech organizations sent a letter to the Waukesha School District in regard to efforts made to remove Looking for Alaska by John Green, Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini in classrooms and libraries, and to reject the idea of "red-flagging books that deal with sex, rape, extreme violence and brutality, and animal cruelty." In a previous [...]
NCAC along with seven other other free speech organizations sent a letter to the Riverside Unified School District urging the School Board to reinstate The Fault in Our Stars by John Green to middle school libraries. A reconsideration committee voted to remove the book after a parent of a middle school student raised objections to the novel's language and sexual content. The [...]
Update: The School Board voted unanimously to keep Persepolis in the 12th grade English IV curriculum in Glenwood High School. In a letter sent to the Ball-Chatham Board of Education today, NCAC and other free-speech organizations urged the Board to reinstate Marjane Satrapi's acclaimed Persepolis to the 12th grade English IV curriculum in Glenwood High School. The Board will meet [...]
UPDATE #1: Good news--the plan to 'review' AP History has been scrapped. *UPDATE #2 : The controversies in JeffCo have still been brewing since NCAC's intervention. The district decided to establish a committee comprised of two board-appointed members, along with students, teachers, and curriculum experts selected by the District. The district hopes that that the issue regarding the curriculum will be [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has joined the UK based Index of Censorship and other members of ARTSFEX, an international civil society network actively concerned with the right of artists to freedom of expression, in a statement condemning an alarming worldwide trend in which violent protest silences artistic expression that some groups claim is offensive. The below statement was issued [...]
Last Friday, NCAC and a number of other organizations devoted to free speech considerations in education, drama, and literature sent a letter to the South Williamsport Area School District calling on them to reverse their cancellation of Monty Python's Spamalot, which had been called off due to "homosexual themes." As we sent out the letter, we learned that Dawn Burch, [...]
UPDATE: We've just heard that, in apparent retaliation for speaking about the cancellation of the play, drama teacher Dawn Burch, has been just fired. Stay tuned for action alert and letter to the school board. In a letter sent to the South Williamsport Area School District today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the American Booksellers Foundation For Free Expression, the [...]
The undersigned organizations, former government officials, and members of Congress write to express their concerns over the US government's surveillance activities conducted under the authority of Executive Order 12333. NCAC shares the concerns of many that these surveillance activities will "undermine the fundamental rights of internet users everywhere" by implementing an unnecessary assemblage of users' personal information. The letter calls [...]
The parent of a Waukesha School District high school student has requested that The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher be removed from the district’s libraries, insisting that both novels should be restricted to adults over age 18. This is not the first time that the Waukesha School District has been attacked by parents claiming [...]
The brother of an incoming senior in New Eagle, PA has formally requested the removal of the award-winning dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood from the Ringgold High School summer reading list, complaining about the novel's “adult nature” and “grossly inappropriate conduct.” The board’s vote to suspend the book was mitigated by the August 12 decision to rescind the book’s [...]
A parent in Waukesha, WI has formally requested a district-wide ban on John Green's award-winning and beloved novel Looking For Alaska, reportedly claiming the book is "not suitable for teenagers." It's worth noting that the book won the American Library Association’s prestigious Michael L. PrintzAward, which is given annually to “the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit.” [...]
From National Coalition Against Censorship (USA), freeDimensional and PEN International July 17, 2014 As organizations committed to freedom of speech and to the universal human value of artistic and literary production, the USA-based National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN International and freeDimensonal are deeply concerned about the decision of the Singapore National Library Board to remove and pulp three children’s books: And [...]
Update July 30: The school board has voted 6-1 to eliminate the entire summer reading list for incoming students at Cape Henlopen High School. Rather than reinstate Cameron Post, they will " return to the district's previous summer reading requirements, which demand college preparatory students read one book for the summer and honors students read two books," according to Delmarva Now. Update [...]
Update 7/16: Paper Towns has reappeared on the latest version of the John Long Middle School summer reading list! Previously: NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has expressed concerns over the removal of John Green's award-winning novel Paper Towns, from the 8th grade summer reading list at John Long Middle School in Pasco County (FL). A parent who objected to sexual content and references in the book expressed her concerns in an email to a member of the school board, who in turn forwarded the message to school officials on Friday, June 20. By the following Monday, the book had been removed from the reading list, even though the objecting parent did not request the book’s removal, but merely complained because she had not been alerted to its content.
National Coalition Against Censorship, American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina, American Association of University Professors , American Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of Expression, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Dramatists Guild, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Modern Language Association and National Council of Teachers of English As national organizations dedicated to freedom of speech [...]
NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has sent a letter to the Murray Independent Schools district in Kentucky regarding the decision to remove the novel UnWholly from 7th grade reading at Murray Middle School, and the ongoing conversation about book challenge policies and how they are implemented in the district. The parent of a student complained that the book’s content [...]
In a letter sent today, NCAC’s Kids’ Right to Read Project expressed concerns over the cancellation of Cory Doctorow's novel Little Brother, as the assigned text for Booker T. Washington High School's school-wide summer reading program. The letter points out that "the book was selected after an extensive process by the professional staff", yet the program was cancelled despite "no formal [...]
No lie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will likely face another challenge, this time in Brunswick County, North Carolina, where the The Color Purple was challenged earlier this year. NCAC sent a letter in the Color Purple case and the book was ultimately kept. A formal challenge has yet to be filed regarding Absolutely True Diary, though NCAC sent the below [...]
NCAC's Youth Free Expression Project sent a letter to the Newfound Area School District warning of the "constitutionally suspect" dissolution of a high school student film club. The official reason for disbanding the club was its supposed failure to advance "student performance in core academic subjects like reading and mathematics” or “complement their regular academic program.” But in conversation with [...]
Update: The book as been retained. Click here for details on the decision. Barthe DeClements' award-winning Sixth Grade Can Really Kill You has been challenged for a school library removal in Rosemount - Apple Valley - Eagan Public Schools (District 196) near the Twin Cities in Minnesota. A parent filed a complaint over the use of the word "retarded" in the [...]
Update: A review committee unanimously decided to keep the book, though an appeal is possible. NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has written the Fauquier County Public Schools superintendent and board with regard to a challenge to David Levithan’s Two Boys Kissing in the Fauquier High School library, because of objections to the same-sex themes explored in the book. We [...]
NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project has sent a letter to the Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware to warn against labeling Aldous Huxley's 20th Century classic Brave New World as potentially "inappropriate" for some Advanced Placement English students, as has been proposed by school board members. Though no one on the board has yet proposed that the book be removed [...]
Though no student was required to read it and a committee of educators and citizens voted it should stay, the Board of Trustees of Meridian Public School District in Idaho still suspended the use of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
In a joint letter with the ACLU-SC and eight other partner organizations, NCAC defended academic freedom and criticized attempts by the South Carolina State Legislature to punitively defund state universities for assigning LGBT-themed books.
Singer and musician Lapiro de Mbanga from Cameroon – the “unceremonial sheriff of the backyards” – has died, 56 years old. He had been living under asylum in the United States since 2012.
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Association of University Professors criticize academic boycotts, but warn public officials against interference with political expression and open discussion and debate.
The National Coalition Against Censorship received word that Ruth Stanford's "A Walk in the Valley" has been restored to the Kennesaw State University's Zuckerman Museum of Art. KSU had said “A Walk in the Valley” was pulled because it did not fit the "celebratory nature" of the museum's opening.
National Coalition Against Censorship criticizes academic boycotts, but warns public officials against interference with political expression and open discussion and debate. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issued a statement on Wednesday in opposition to state legislative proposals (A.8392a and S.6438) that would "penalize professional associations and their members for engaging in protected political activity," according to NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin. [...]
After close to six months of community debate, freedom to read advocates in Boone, North Carolina are breathing a sigh of relief. Last night, a 3-2 school board vote held that Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits could be taught again in Watauga County Schools.
We urge the Center to reconsider the exclusion of Linda Cunningham’s timely and powerful "School Days" piece, and adopt exhibition policies that demonstrate a respect for the creative freedom of their members
NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project activated to advise a reconsideration committee in Sweet Home, OR to retain the use of Alexie's popular young adult novel in 8th grade classrooms. Parents and other citizens whose children do not even attend Sweet Home Public Schools have complained about the book's content. Before the book was taught, teachers in Sweet Home Middle [...]
