LGBTQ Children’s Book Removed from Library Shelves in West Virginia
NCAC urges Upshur County library officials to uphold their own policies and the First Amendment by returning Prince & Knight to the children's section of their library.
Florida County Rejects Library’s New York Times Subscription Over Political Viewpoint
Commissioners in Citrus County, Florida, recently voted against allocating funds for a digital subscription to the New York Times for county libraries based on political disagreement with the paper.
NCAC Celebrates 45th Anniversary
NCAC awarded Free Speech Defender Awards to young adult author Jason Reynolds and groundbreaking artist Carolee Schneemann at its 45th anniversary celebration.
NCAC Joins Statement of Civil Rights Concerns About Social Media Monitoring by Law Enforcement
When agencies use social media to keep tabs on people they perceive as suspicious, it has a disparate impact on historically overpoliced communities, especially communities of color.
Author Aida Salazar on Censoring Gender Fluidity in Schools
Author Aida Salazar shares her own experience with school visits for her new book, The Moon Within, and the struggles she faces with teachers.
UPDATE: VICTORY! NCAC Opposes Proposed Protest Fees on National Mall
In August, the National Park Service issued a proposed rule to introduce fees for holding protests on the National Mall, posing a serious threat to Americans' right to free speech and assembly.
NCAC Opposes Removal of Dear Martin from Georgia School Curriculum
Columbia County Superintendent removed three novels from the proposed high school curriculum despite teachers' recommendations.
Mayor Vetoes Bill Clarifying Washington DC Arts Commission’s Independence
UPDATE: 10/24/19: On October 22, the DC Council voted unanimously to override Mayor Muriel Bowser's veto of an emergency bill that would have clarified the DCCAH’s independence. “The underlying legislation cemented DCCAH's separation from the executive's office after a tumultuous summer during which the mayor tried and failed to grab control of the District's public arts.” (see original post below) [...]
Cancel Culture: Can Free Speech in Cultural Institutions Survive the Onslaught of Moral Outrage?
Svetlana Mintcheva, NCAC's Director of Programs, presented a talk at the Harvard Law School Library on the effects contemporary moral outrage has on the arts and culture.
Facebook Urged to Maintain End-to-End Encryption in Face of Government Pressure
NCAC urges Facebook to resist government pressure to end its use of end-to-end security encryption.
Department of Education Threatens Academic Freedom at Duke–UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies
Government intervention into the content of higher education courses is very likely to suppress certain views, chill dissent, and restrict academic discourse.
Allen Ginsberg Censored in Hermosa Beach, California
An artist in Hermosa Beach, California, has been pressured by Hermosa Beach Mural Project organizers to remove poet Allen Ginsberg from a new public mural.
“I wish we didn’t need Banned Books Week”: The Real Cost of Banning Books
Stories that feature characters with diverse ethnicities and sexualities remain at the top of challenged books lists in our schools and libraries. Each removal tells a kid that theirs isn't a story worth telling.
Censorship Leaves Us in the Dark: A Banned Books Week Reading List
Celebrate Banned Books Week 2019 by reading some of our favorite banned and challenged books.
California Artist Turns Censorship Into Powerful Artistic Statement
Christy Chan turned censorship into a powerful artistic statement in Richmond, California
Back to School: 7 Resources for Parents, Teachers, and School Administrators
This list of our best resources on censorship and the First Amendment in schools will help you get ready for the school year.
Back to School: 9 Resources for Students
This school year we want you to be prepared to defend your right to speak, think and create.
San Francisco Mural Controversy: Perspectives and Updates
UPDATE October 4, 2019: The George Washington High School Alumni Association filed a lawsuit in the public interest against the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, challenging the School Board’s commitment to remove from public view Victor Arnautoff’s 1936 New Deal mural with panels without conducting an environmental review, which is required by California law. UPDATE August 13, [...]
New Initiative to Train Changemakers in Free Speech Advocacy
Free Speech Is For Me aims to reverse the trend of free speech being pitted against advocacy for social change and equip a broad new range of individuals to challenge censorship, defend speech rights and champion freedom of expression for all activists.
Advocacy Alert: Support Trans Author in Texas | UPDATE
Join KRRP in demanding Leander City Council immediately reschedule the planned Lumberjanes event and adopt inclusive library policies that guarantee this sort of discrimination does not happen again.
Coalition Objects to Universities Monitoring Chinese Students and Scholars
The FBI and other government officials have advised some U.S. universities to develop protocols for monitoring students and scholars from Chinese state-affiliated research institutions, based solely on their country of origin.
Professor Under Fire for Quoting James Baldwin | UPDATE: Victory!
Laurie Sheck, a professor at the New School, is under investigation after using the N-word in a class while quoting James Baldwin.
Remembering Toni Morrison
Joan Bertin (former executive director, NCAC), Toni Morrison, Fran Lebowitz “The thought that leads me to contemplate with dread the erasure of other voices, of unwritten novels, poems whispered or swallowed for fear of being overheard by the wrong people, outlawed languages flourishing underground, essayists’ questions challenging authority never being posed, unstaged plays, canceled films—that thought is a nightmare. As [...]
NCAC Calls for Open Forum to Discuss San Francisco Murals
NCAC proposes holding an open forum where GWHS students can talk about how they see and interpret the Arnautoff murals. We invite the San Francisco Board of Education to collaborate with us in presenting the forum.
Texas Library Cancels Event with Trans Author
City officials in Leander, Texas abruptly cancelled an appearance by renowned graphic novelist Lilah Sturges at the Leander Public Library just hours before her scheduled visit.
NCAC and PEN America Oppose New Jersey Education Bill
The New Jersey legislature is considering an education bill that would redefine anti-Semitism so broadly as to infringe on protected speech.
NCAC Joins Call to Remove Provision from Intelligence Authorization Act
A coalition of over two dozen organizations is calling for Congressional leaders to remove a provision in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 that would dramatically expand the definition of a "covert agent."
Idaho High School Bans The Walking Dead from Campus
A school in Idaho has banned the popular graphic novel series The Walking Dead and removed all copies of the graphic novel series from their library, despite a review committee recommending the book remain on shelves.
NCAC Honored By Dramatists Legal Defense Fund
Dramatists Legal Defense Fund will present an award to Svetlana Mintcheva, NCAC's Director of Programs, for NCAC's fierce commitment to protecting and advocating for the First Amendment.
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco Removes Art Referencing Gaza
The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco removed two works from its exhibition, La Frontera: Artists Respond to the U.S.-Mexico Border Crisis.
Statement on Ohio House Speaker’s Attempts to Suppress Pride Events
House Speaker Larry Householder’s letter pressuring the Ohio Library Council to cancel youth events in celebration of Pride month is an assault on free speech principles and an abuse of political power.
Truth to Power: Film Contest Winners and Semi-Finalists
Over 100 teen filmmakers spoke Truth to Power for this year’s YFEP Film Contest. We invited teens to speak directly to those in power to lead change about issues that matter to them. The 12 finalist films tackled a wide range of polarizing, and often taboo, topics including gun violence, immigrant family separation, gender equality, toxic masculinity, shaming and [...]
San Francisco School District Must Protect Murals in Response to Heightened Tensions | UPDATE
On June 25th, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is scheduled to vote on the fate of thirteen 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals at George Washington High School. The murals, created in fresco by Russian-American social realist painter Victor Arnautoff, can only be removed by the irreversible act of destroying them. UPDATE: SFUSD voted to destroy the murals, [...]
Art Professor Dewey Crumpler Defends Victor Arnautoff’s WPA Murals
San Francisco Art Institute Professor Dewey Crumpler defends WPA murals created by Russian-American social realist painter Victor Arnautoff in this video produced by the GWHS Alumni Association. Crumpler discusses how they relate to his own murals commissioned in 1974 in response to them. On June 25th, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) will vote on whether to remove [...]
UPDATE | University Suspends Library Director Over Controversial Photo Display
Doane University in Nebraska has closed a library display and suspended the library director over the inclusion of historical photos of students wearing blackface.
NCAC Protests Ban on Prison Newspaper
Florida prison officials banned a newsweekly over an article about Albert Woodfox, a former inmate who wrote a book about his imprisonment in solitary confinement for over 40 years.
Facebook Agrees to Reconsider Artistic Nudity Policies
Facebook’s policy team has committed to convening a group of stakeholders to consider a new approach to nudity guidelines.
Instagram Bans Images of Anti-Censorship Art Action
Despite careful efforts by NCAC and Spencer Tunick to create an artwork that closely adheres to Facebook and Instagram's nudity guidelines, the hashtag for the #WeTheNipple campaign has been blocked on Instagram.
Nude #WeTheNipple Art Action at Facebook Headquarters Calls Out Censorship
NCAC and artist Spencer Tunick created a nude art action in front of Facebook and Instagram's New York City headquarters as part of their #WeTheNipple campaign against art censorship on social media.
Compromise Reached Over Disputed Los Angeles School Mural
After intervention from artists, advocates and community groups, a compromise has been reached that will allow the mural to remain with artist Beau Stanton overseeing changes to the work.