Slaughterhouse Five Sent To Literary Gulag in Republic, MO
"And So It Goes"...to the restricted section of the library? Republic, MO Slaughterhouse Five ban lifted but NCAC says literary gulag is an insult to students and teachers.
Richland School Board Votes to Overturn Book Ban
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will be restored to the curriculum for all high school classes in the district, located in Washington state, following a joint letter from NCAC, ABFFE, AAP, SCBWI, NCTE and PEN
Victory Over Censorship in Colorado
One more public exhibition space forgot about their obligations under the First Amendment and removed artwork they found subjectively "offensive." In April this happened in California, this time it was Colorado. To their credit, however, local officials quickly corrected their mistake when reminded by NCAC's letter that it is not the role of public officials to shield the eyes of the public from work because they subjectively decides it is not “family-friendly.”
Video: Pastor Reaches Out To Enrique Chagoya
Pastor Jonathan Wiggins explain to his Resurrection Fellowship why he reached out to artist Enrique Chagoya, whose work featuring Christ-like imagery was attacked at the Loveland Museum Gallery
Kids Right To Read letter on Rejection of Angels In America From 12 Grade AP English Course
Joint letter to the Fremont, CA Unified School District.
Tony Kushner’s Politics Attacked at CUNY, Work Attacked in California
Although the CUNY Board Of Trustees reversed its decision to deny an honorary degree to Pulitzer-winning playwrite Tony Kushner, there remains a pattern of retaliation against academics who openly critique Middle East politics.
NCAC Covering Smithsonian Flashpoints Forum On Censorship
We'll post live updates from the much-anticipated "Flashpoints and Fault Lines" forum, planned in the aftermath of the censoring of David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire In My Belly" from the National Portrait Gallery in late 2010
Worldwide Protests For Ai Weiwei’s Release
Demonstrators all over the world were sitting outside Chinese embassies on Sunday demanding the release of the detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.
Victory! Marin Civic Center Recinds Censorship Of Painting
After receiving a letter from NCAC and First Amendment Project, Civic Center requests that the nude painting be reinstated to art show
Joint Letter In Response To FOIA Request Of University Of Virginia Climate Research Emails
Joint Letter re: Open Records Request to UVA On Climate Research Emails
Obama’s Anti-Bullying Policy Threatens Overreach
Department of Education threatens student speech rights with overbroad definition of harassment
Letter From NCAC and FAP To Marin Civic Center In Response To Art Censorship
As organizations dedicated to promoting the First Amendment right to free speech, including freedom of artistic expression, we are deeply concerned about the removal of Sylvia Cossich Goodman’s work from the annual Marin Arts Council member show at the County Civic Center. Your decision, as a government employee, to remove an artwork from an exhibition held at a public space raises serious First Amendment concerns. We urge the Civic Center to immediately put the work back on display and, in the future, draft exhibition policies that are consistent with First Amendment principles.
NCAC Signs Amici Brief For Barnes v. Zaccari Student Censorship Case
In 2007, Hayden Barnes was expelled from Voldosta State University for the simple act of posting a photo-collage to Facebook to protest the envirnonmental impact of a new university parking garage. VSU President Ronald Zaccari was warned by his administrators that punishing Barnes would violate his First Amendment rights, but Zaccari persisted and, after failing to dig up any dirt on Barnies, kicked him out anyway. TheFIRE.org has supported Barnes' case since 2007, and NCAC is happy to join this Amici Brief to support student free speech rights in campuses across America.
Call For Imediate Release of Ai Weiwei
The arrest of Ai Weiwei at Beijing Capital Airport on April 3 is an assault on socially engaged artists everywhere. Read NCAC's statement and find out how to add your voice.
The 8th Dirty Word
In today’s current political climate, a taboo-challenging novel may begin this way,
“Labor, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. La-bor the tip of the tongue taking a trip of two steps down the palate to tap, on two, through the lips. La. Bor…”
Response to Censorship of Water For Elephants From Reading List
One family is the source of complaints that have, to date, removed two books from course reading lists at Bedford High School. Rather than creating procedures to avoid parental complaints, the school district needs a process for handling complaints and providing alternative reading materials to objecting families -- without depriving the rest of the school access to literary works.
Youth Film Contest Winners Announced! Awards Screening Set For March 26
We are thrilled announce Aaron Dunbar's "Hare Tactics" as the 1st Place Winner of our 2010 Youth Film Contest. Sarah Phan and Lyndi Low took 2nd Place with "Malediction", and Evangeline Fachon and Lindsay Tomasetti's "Static" won 3rd Place. Watch the films now and join our winners for a March 26th Awards Screening at the New York Film Academy!
National Art and Free Speech Organizations Urge Smithsonian to Adopt New Policies
A group of national and Washington D.C. art and free speech organizations sent a letter to the Smithsonian Board of Regents asking them to adopt explicit policies that uphold First Amendment principles.
Protecting Free Expression in the Wake of WikiLeaks
The National Coalition Against Censorship signed onto a letter circulated among U.S. government officials urging restraint in the aftermath of WikiLeaks. The letter was signed by 30 organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association, New America Foundation, among others.
NCAC Letter to Flagler County, FL Public Schools Superintendent over To Kill A Mockingbird
NCAC wrote this letter expressing concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of To Kill A Mockingbird. Superintendent Flagler County Public Schools 1769 East Moody Blvd. Bunnell FL 32110 mailto:[email protected] November 12, 2010 Dear Superintendent Valentine, We write to express concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of [...]
Letter to Helena, Montana Review Committee on Sherman Alexis’ Novel
The NCAC wrote this letter in response to a parent's challenge. Dr. Susan Watne Review Committee for Helena Public Schools Helena, Montana mailto:[email protected] Dear Dr. Watne and Members of the Review Committee for Helena Public Schools, We write concerning the challenge to Sherman Alexie’s acclaimed novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. We understand [...]
Wikileaks
We join our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in their concern that the Wikileaks-provoked debate about the secrecy of government information and the people's right to know has recently turned into a massive attack on the right of Internet intermediaries to publish truthful information.
LA MOCA Whitewashes Political Mural
LA MOCA, newly headed by New York transplant Jeffrey Deitch, whitewashed a mural painted by internationally known street artist BLU. The mural, originally commissioned by MOCA for their upcoming Art in the Street exhibit, faces the Veterans Administration healthcare building on Temple Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
NCAC Protests Florida School Cancellation of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
We write to express concern about the cancellation of the Flagler Palm Coast High School production of a To Kill a Mockingbird and to urge you to review that decision and allow students to go ahead with the production.
Controversial artwork vandalized in Colorado
What began as a heated protest over Enrique Chagoya's artwork at the Loveland Museum in Colorado has ended in vandalism. A disgruntled woman ripped into Chagoya's controversial lithograph after she busted the artwork's plexiglass case with a crowbar. City council members, religious groups and individuals had hoped that the public pressure caused by the artwor's racy religious content would get Chagoya's piece yanked from the government-funded museum.
Kids’ Right to Read Project Defends a Sherman Alexie Novel in Missouri
NCAC sent the following letter to Stockton School District in Missouri concerning the challenge to Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. The novel was used during the 2009-2010 school year as the all-school read for grades 9-12, and challenged because the content did not reflect "community values."
NCAC Protests Cancellation of Ellen Hopkins Appearance at Teen Lit Fest in Texas
An invitation to young adult novelist Ellen Hopkins to speak about her experiences as a writer was rescinded by the Superintendent of the Humble (Texas) Independent School District after some parents complained about the content of her books. NCAC coordinated a letter of protest with five other national organizations.
NCAC Joins Brief in Snyder v. Phelps
In July, 2010, NCAC joins The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, The Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, and The Pennsylvania Center for The First Amendment in a friend of the court brief in the Supreme Court in support of the right to protest.
YouTube Creates Appeals Process & Includes Art Exception in Guidelines
After 37-year old video work from artist Susan Mogul was removed from YouTube, NCAC and the Electronic Frontier Foundation joined together in the following letter requesting once more that YouTube instate a viable appeals process and include an exception for nudity in art in its community guidelines.
FDA failed to act on Warnings of Avandia Health Risks
News of GlaxoSmithKline's coverup of the health risks of their diabetes drug, "Avandia," has also highlighted serious problems with scientific integrity at the FDA. In 2006, an FDA scientist who recommended requiring a warning label about Avandia's possible heart health risks was shot down and reprimanded by her superiors. In 2007, the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, petitioned the [...]
Scientists Report a Continued Culture of Politics Trumping Science
An LA Times report details the disappointment expressed by some government scientists with a lack of improvement in scientific integrity since President Obama took office and called for new rules to protect scientific integrity. Such new rules have yet to be issued, and lower level government scientists still report political pressure to alter their results as well as a lack [...]
Song of Solomon Retained in Indiana AP English Classes
After a couple months of debate, the Franklin Township School Board in Indiana has ruled to retain Song of Solomon in its AP English classes!
NCAC Joins Brief Supporting Car Art
On July 8, 2010, the NCAC joined Texas Civil Rights Project, First Amendment Project, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, The Arthouse at the Jones Center, and Big Umbrella Studios in filing a friend of the court brief to the Supreme Court in support of an art display in Texas (Kleinman v. City of San Marcos).
The Kid’s Right to Read Project Urges Indiana School to Keep Song of Solomon
As we reported in our latest edition of Censorship News, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon was recently removed from an Indiana high school’s AP English class on April 28 after a parent and school board members complained about its content. Two days later, the book was returned to the class when a committee of educators and parents ruled in favor of keeping the book. On June 21, the Franklin Township school board will hear an appeal of the committee’s decision.
Investigation of UVA Scientist Sends a Chilling Message
Spurious investigation of UVA scientist sends a chilling message (2010) In May 2010, Union of concerned Scientists (UCS) reported that the University of Virginia was calling for an end to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation of internationally respected climate scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli has a reputation as a hero among conservative tea party activists, and provided no evidence of [...]
NCAC Defends Student Film at Boston University
NCAC recently fielded a plea for help from a Boston University student filmmaker, at the College of Communication, whose film Wake Up had been removed from regular class consideration and critique for reasons which depended very much on point of view. The student thought it was art. The faculty called it pornography.
Federal Judge Holds Gene Patents to be Invalid
In 2009, a handful of cancer patients, professional organizations, several individual doctors and researchers along with the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to grant a patent to Myriad Genetics for the genes BRCA1 and 2, which are associated with hereditary breast cancer and ovarian cancer. In March 2010, the New York federal court ruled that [...]
Free speech surrendered: Corpus Christi at Tarleton State
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issues the following statement opposing Tarleton State University’s recent cancellation of Terrence McNally’s play Corpus Christi:
YouTube Restores Amy Greenfield’s Videos
NCAC and EFF sent a letter to YouTube protesting the removal of work by internationally recognized video artist Amy Greenfield. NCAC and EFF are urging the company to make sure YouTube’s community guidelines are applied judiciously.