In public comments on Virginia's State Department of Education website and in a letter to board members, NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project asked the Board of Education to reject a proposed amendment that would force schools to notify parents any time "sensitive" materials are used in the classroom.
A student-led petition sounded the alarm: no new books could enter Muhlenberg classroom libraries without being "rated" for mature, sexual, violent or religiously offensive content. A letter from NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project sheds light on concerns over such ratings.
UPDATE: Sociology professor Patti Adler has returned to teaching after CU-Boulder informed her she would be reinstated as instructor of the course "Deviance in U.S. Society." NCAC and other national organizations issued a statement warning CU-Boulder of their obligations to academic freedom.
Statement about the University of Colorado’s Actions Relating to Professor Patricia Adler From The National Coalition Against Censorship, American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and Student Press Law Center January 2, 2014 As groups concerned about academic freedom and free speech, we join the American Association of University Professors in expressing alarm over the [...]
The Brunswick County School Board voted 3-2 not to remove The Color Purple after a formal complaint about its content by a member of the county government. In a letter, NCAC and partner organizations argued that removing the book would have an adverse effect on students' education.
In remarks at last night's school board meeting, Teton School District Superintendent Monte Woolstenhulme called for the immediate reinstatement of Bless Me, Ultima. The book was suspended from classroom use with no process or review.
NCAC has partnered with the Freedom To Read Foundation and other library, education, and free speech organizations in filing an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Arce v. Huppenthal, arguing that a statute which led to the disbanding of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) program violates Arizona students’ First Amendment rights.
NCAC's Kids' Right to Read Project organized and sent a letter, cosigned by eight other organizations, to the Watauga County School District reconsideration committee regarding a challenge to Isabel Allende's "House of the Spirits." The book is being taught in 10th grade honors English.
**Victory! San Bernardino County Restores Artwork! NCAC congratulates artists, community members, and ACLU for defending First Amendment principles** Read the whole story in the San Bernardino Sun. This past September, NCAC received a call from an artist outraged at the removal of three paintings from the Hispanic National Heritage Art Exhibition at the San Bernardino County Government Center. Apparently [...]
In a letter to members of Congress, NCAC and other civil society groups, companies and investors call for a complete overhaul of government surveillance. The letter demands transparency and oversight ahead of a U.S. Senate Judiciary hearing on 21 November on “Oversight of U.S. government surveillance authorities.”
NCAC and partners sent a letter to the Billings School District on Monday defending Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The book is taught in 10th grade classrooms. At a well-attended school board meeting this week, many supporters of the book spoke out in its defense.
The superintendent at Bordentown Regional School District [in New Jersey] made a public statement that “religious music should not be part of the elementary program[s]” and decided to ban religious Christmas music during winter concert performances at elementary schools within the district [...]
April 8, 1998 The following letter was sent to the members of the Senate Commerce Committee and other key senators. The complete list of recipients follows the text. I am writing to express concern about legislative efforts to restrict access to the Internet in schools and libraries, and particularly about S. 1619, the Internet School Filtering Act, which would [...]
The news that Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere had been challenged in classrooms in Alamogordo, NM, caused local and national outcry. This week, the district announced that the book is 'educationally suitable, balanced and age-appropriate' and that it would continue to be used.
NCAC Calls on Herberger Theater Center to Apologize for Cancelled Show and Commit to Guidelines Supporting Free Expression.
NCAC and ACLU-SC ask the county board to immediately restore artwork and establish best practices for managing future controversies in accordance with First Amendment principles.
As Banned Books Week (9/22-9/29) kicks into gear, the Kids' Right to Read Project finds itself battling censorship issues in half a dozen states. On Monday, KRRP joined other free speech organizations in opposition to the recent ban on Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Ten days after the Randolph County School board voted to have the book removed, Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man' is back on library shelves and in classrooms following a second vote.
Popular YA novel Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell will remain on school library shelves in Anoka-Hennepin Public Schools, after a committee unanimously voted to retain the book. The book came under fire in July 2013 when it was selected as the county's "Rock the Read" book for summer reading.
The Cumberland County school district cancelled a talk about bullying by author Meg Medina because of the title of her most recent book, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. The book's title are the first words the main character hears her first day of school, kicking off bullying that will plague her throughout the year.
The Currituck County School Board voted 4-1 on October 14 to keep Tanya Lee Stone's "A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl" in the high school library. We urged the district to follow the recommendation of its review committee and keep the book in a letter last month.
NCAC and the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri sent a letter urging the board to restore the art exhibition program at Dykes Library, located in the Kansas University Medical Center.
School's out for the summer, but there's no vacation from book challenges. The Kids' Right to Read Project is battling a handful of censorship cases, including a push to remove The Bluest Eye from Advanced Placement courses in Adams County, Colorado. Find out more about the latest battles...
NCAC, ABFFE and CDT have sent a letter to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie calling on him to veto Senate Bill 2715, which would charge the state with publishing spurious research on media effects.
UPDATE: Now at 114 co-signers! Demand swift action from Congress to stop unchecked domestic surveillance and its chilling effect on free speech.
The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) celebrated the return of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Simon & Schuster) to middle school classroom libraries in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. District 41 school board members voted 6-1 to reverse a ban on the book at their meeting yesterday. Perks was effectively banned on April 29 by the outgoing Glen [...]
NCAC's Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) and its allies sent a letter to Glen Ellyn District 41 school board members today, urging them to reverse the district’s ban on Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Simon & Schuster) in middle school classroom libraries. The board is set to reconsider the ban at a June 10 meeting. [...]
GENEVA, May 31, 2013–Today the Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, Farida Shaheed, delivered a landmark report on artistic freedom and expression to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Shaheed is the first Independent Expert on cultural rights appointed by the U.N. The U.S-based National Coalition Against Censorship lauded the report as an important milestone for international mobilizing in support of free artistic expression as a human right.
Students in middle schools in Northville, MI will continue to have the opportunity to read and study the definitive edition of Anne Frank's A Diary of a Young Girl. A district reconsideration committee voted to retain the book, which was challenged by a parent because of anatomical descriptions in the book.
Under this troublingly broad re-definition, even a production of the Vagina Monologues would qualify as sexual harassment if anyone found it offensive for any reason.
Timeline On March 14, 2013 Christopher Dignam, Principal of Lane Tech High School, sent an e-mail to his staff repeating a mandate reportedly handed down by one of Chicago public schools Network Instructional Support Leaders. That mandate required schools to remove the graphic novel Persepolis from libraries and classrooms and stop teaching the book, effective March 15. When the e-mail [...]
Tattoos and the practice of tattooing have existed for centuries and across many cultures. In the U.S. 1 in 4 adults under 50 had a tattoo, According to a 2006 study by Northwestern University; a 2012 poll conducted by The Harris Poll found that 20 percent of adults of any age have at least one tattoo. The attitude toward tattoos in American culture has shifted considerably in the last twenty years: today, tattoos are second only to ear piercing as a mainstream body modification.
The first page of CN issue 116.
So far hundreds of students have been punished for their involvement in the making of one of thousands of videos in this most recent and pervasive Internet trend. • The Mound-Westonka community in Minnesota was angered and disappointed when students –including six hockey players– were suspended hours before a critical and ultimately season-ending game. • At least 30 students were [...]
A reconsideration committee voted unanimously to keep Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's Intensely Alice in school libraries in Buffalo, Missouri after NCAC joined its letter in defense of the book with those from the ALA and ACLU.
NCAC issued a statement sharply criticizing school administrators across the country for levying suspensions on dozens of students for filming or participating in the popular “Harlem Shake” video meme. Do you think the suspensions are fair? Take our survey.
This attempt to control public discussion and debate about Israel and Palestine reveals a deep disregard for freedom of speech and the constitutional obligations of public officials.
The school board in Prosser, WA may again hear comments from a high school social studies teacher who has made it his mission to ban two library books. A reconsideration committee in the district already voted to keep A Child Called "It" or The Popularity Papers in school libraries.
Following one state's decison to remove arcade games from highway rest stops, a library board votes to empower policing of facility computers. (Image by JD Hancock on Flickr)
