G. Wayne Clough is familiar to followers of NCAC as the Smithsonian Institution Secretary who unilaterally pulled a video from a National Portrait Gallery exhibition at the behest of Congressional Tea Party pressure. Clough has just announced he will resign … Continue reading →
Read Svetlana Mintcheva's op-ed in the Guardian on how a successful component of a college credit art history class at McCracken County High School in Paducah, Kentucky has been cancelled because of a controversy provoked by an art installation involving the United States flag.
For whatever reason, it sometimes seems that censorship battles crop up in pairs or groups of three. In May 2012, for example, the Kids' Right to Read Project began battling the removal of Todd Parr's The Family Book and other GLSEN materials in Erie, PA because they "advocated" for "non-traditional" families and lifestyles. Just days later, we learned that Davis County [...]
The First Amendment is the means, mechanism and method by which we use freedom to participate in self-governance and work to achieve Martin Luther King’s vision of equality.
Bulletin-board posting was part of what public schools are supposed to be doing in teaching about Islam, Christianity and other faiths in ways that are constitutionally and academically sound.
Russell Rieger, one of five plaintiffs in Pico v. Board of Ed. Russell Rieger was one of five teens who sued their Long Island school district in 1976 for banning 11 books from their classrooms and school libraries. They ended up making history. The Supreme Court concluded in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. [...]
Essam Political street artist Essam Attia, 30, was arrested last November for planting dozens of fake public service ads around Manhattan claiming that the New York Police Department (NYPD) used drones to spy on citizens. The pubic was quick to react, launching an online Free Essam campaign and a petition asking that all charges be dropped. We caught [...]
Betsy Schneider Are photos of a naked child offensive? Some folks in Sheboygan, WI, thought Betsy Schneider’s images of her growing daughter were offensive and recently pressured the Michael Kohler Arts Center to remove them from a group show. NCAC spoke to Schneider, an award-winning photographer, about her reaction to the ban, her now-teenage daughter’s response to all [...]
Stephen Chbosky Stephen Chbosky has lost track of the number of times The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been banned in schools across the country. He’s just thrilled that the latest attempt to censor his young adult novel has failed—and middle school kids in Glen Ellyn, IL, now have access to the title in their classrooms once again. [...]
Walter Dean MyersNational Ambassador for Young People's Literature Award-winning and often banned author, Walter Dean Myers, talks to the Write Stuff about why he writes for “troublemakers,” his biggest challenges about being the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and his latest work: a self-help book for inner-city kids. What challenges have you had as National Ambassador for [...]
For those of you who haven't yet heard, the Associated Press recently revealed that Mitch Daniels, now President of Purdue University, attempted to ban the works of acclaimed historian Howard Zinn from classrooms in Indiana during his tenure as that state's governor. In 2010, after Howard Zinn's passing, Daniels (seen here in an artist's rendering) wrote an e-mail to the [...]
The following may inspire tears of pride and/or rage, depending on your disposition. They are Change.org quotes from two petitions: one on each side of a debate over the use of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and other texts in Adams County, Colorado. Bailey Cross, a student at Legacy High School, is combatting censorship in her district in Colorado [...]
Since our op-ed on New Jersey Senate Bill 2715 landed in the Times of Trenton, and our subsequent letter to Gov. Chris Christie was picked up by video game journalists, we've seen a couple questions pop up in comments and emails. To recap, Senate Bill 2715 would require the New Jersey Department of Education to publish pamphlets, websites and other [...]
Justin Carter, 19, was jailed for a Facebook comment Have you ever lost your temper and said something in the heat of the moment you later came to regret? Did you end up waiting 5 months in jail for a trial because your family couldn’t make your half million dollar bail? That’s exactly what Justin Carter’s family and [...]
Steven Pico in 1981 Steven Pico may not be a household name. But for those who champion the freedom to read, he’s a big deal. Back in 1976, Pico and four other teens sued their school district in Long Island, NY, for banning 11 books from their classrooms and school libraries. The six-year battle to defend the constitutional rights [...]
Last week brought us one of those rare occasions where Perez Hilton reported on the invocation of First Amendment rights, as Chris Brown declared he would fight a Los Angeles citation. Brown was fined $376 for "unpermitted and excessive signage" for graffiti he had painted on the outside of his Hollywood Hills home, after neighbors complained that the pictures terrified [...]
Check out today's Times of Trenton op-ed page for a piece by NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin calling out the dubious logic and "research" behind a bill the New Jersey legislature just passed that would put the state Department of Education in charge of a disinformation campaign to scare parents about the effects of "violent media." This kind of initiative [...]
Thirty-one years ago today, the Supreme Court upheld students rights to read in the Island Trees School district in Long Island. The 5-4 decision of Board of Education vs. Pico found that the school board violated the First Amendment when they removed certain books from junior high and high school libraries after parents complained they were “objectionable.” Check out some [...]
If you love libraries, you might know that today marks the anniversary of an important decision upholding the First Amendment in schools. In Board of Ed. v. Pico (1982), the plurality opinion stated that school libraries have “special characteristics” as providers of free access to information, and should be especially vigilant of upholding students’ First Amendment rights. Pico began when [...]
This post brought to you by summer programs intern, Justin Haddock. Justin is a student at Reed College where he studies political science and biology. He is interested in public policy, behavioral economics, and willful hypocrisy. Smoke all you want in Colorado, but don't read about it. Such stated a provision in a bill that would have required vendors to [...]
The following post was written by NCAC's summer legal intern, Ryan Gander. Ryan is a current student at Columbia Law School. His interests include philosophy, civil liberties, science fiction, and video games. The Supreme Court has a troubled relationship with the First Amendment and that’s not even talking about what goes on in the courtroom. Since 1949, federal law has [...]
Books like "When the Leopard Lost His Spots" can be useful tools to help kids understand gender and identity Every parent wishes their child could be spared the worst of life. War, lingering sickness, hurt and hate: all of these are things most would rather keep far distant from the lives of their children. Yet, we are all called to [...]
The nation is abuzz this week following Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA’s comprehensive (and fully unconstitutional) surveillance program (Click here for the Guardian’s live feed of Snowden-related news). Those of us who spend our time protecting civil liberties are appalled at the behavior of this administration and its intelligence and security agencies, and perhaps even more disturbed by the rhetoric [...]
--UPDATE-- Last night the board voted 6-1 to keep the book. They will be instating new policies that will hopefully balance parental concerns with students rights and the professional judgments of teachers. --------------------------------------------- The students, teachers, parents and citizens on the ground in Glen Ellyn have been working hard to spread the word about tonight's board vote there to (hopefully) [...]
In the coming weeks we will be featuring posts from our smart and savvy summer interns. This post is by programs intern Eli Siems. Eli is a recent graduate of SUNY New Paltz with a degree in English. He is passionate about literature in all forms, particularly poetry, and his love of letters has led him to join the fight to protect [...]
Over a month ago now, the Glen Ellyn school board voted 4-2 to ban the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower from middle schools in District 41. The district's ad hoc committee of teachers, parents and administrators read and assessed the book, after the parents of a student filed a formal complaint about the its content. They advised the [...]
We know you're gearing up for the June 7 release of Tiger Eyes, the first-ever Judy Blume film adaptation. In the meantime, we'd like to share this charming reading of Deenie featuring Rachel Dratch, Martha Plimpton, Junot Diaz, Amy Sohn, and Elna Baker. The video was taken at NCAC's 35th Anniversary Benefit in 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2Y0gmClmY_0
Maybe it was Forever. Perhaps it was Are you there God, it's Me, Margaret? It could have been Deenie or even Tiger Eyes. Chances are that if you went through puberty since the 1970s, you learned something from one of Judy Blume's real, relatable and enduring books. And now, for the first time ever, one of those works is being made into a feature film...and [...]
A reconsideration committee in Northville, Michigan, voted to retain Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl after it was challenged by a mother of a middle schooler who called the book "pornographic." In a letter to the community, Assistant Superintendent Bob Behnke wrote that “the committee felt strongly that a decision to remove the use of ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a [...]
Children's book author, Free Speech Defender, and NCAC Board member Robie Harris is the very first recipient of the Mills Tannenbaum Award for Children's Literacy, presented by Reach Out and Read of Greater New York!
Librotraficantes and their allies are dancing over the legislative grave of Texas HB1938, which sought to limit which courses university students could take to fulfill state history requirements. After impressive advocacy efforts on the part of Tony Diaz and Los Librotraficantes, the bill is indefinitely stalled in the Calendars committee. HB1938 and its Senate counterpart, SB1128, were the more subtle [...]
In honor of National Teachers Appreciation Day, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has honored Matt Beck, a school counselor in Erie, Illinois, with its 2013 Educator of the Year Award. Matt showed impressive courage and resolve in the face of censorship of LGBTQ materials, including Todd Parr's The Family Book, in his school in Erie in the [...]
For the last few months, the West Palm Beach Library Foundation in Florida has been hosting the travelling exhibition Banned and Burned: Literary Censorship and the Loss of Freedom from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In addition, the Library asked students in the area to make their voices heard in their first-ever essay contest. The theme? Literary censorship. The Library Foundation recently [...]
Edward de Grazia, a lawyer, professor, playwright and staunch defender of free speech died on April 11 at the age of 86. de Grazia represented famed banned writers Arthur Miller, William S. Burroughs, and Normal Mailer among others and served as counsel on important cases which ultimately led the Supreme Court to loosen restrictions on obscenity. The obscene, Mr. de Grazia [...]
Right now the Texas state legislature is considering a bill that would require college students to take the equivalent of two semesters of "courses providing a comprehensive survey in American History" in order to graduate. One of the two semesters could be Texan History. The new bill is evidently a "reinforcement" of a 1971 law mandating students take six hours of [...]
Logan Middle School student Jared Marcum took a trip to the courthouse after a confrontation over his t-shirt last week. The t-shirt boasted the National Rifle Association's logo and the words "Know Your Rights" over an image of a hunting rifle. The student was approached by a teacher in the middle of the school day who apparently asked him to [...]
"Art is a way to speak our minds!!!" one hand-drawn sign reads. "IB Art Matters!" reads another. These signs hang on the art display boards where art, done by Palmer High School's IB Art students, once hung. In response to recent censorship by the High School, students have made their voice heard in defense of their work and in support [...]
We can help with that! NCAC is concerned with censorship in all its forms, even those instances where private enterprises are within their legal rights to marginalize or ban content based on a point of view. Users engage with the Internet as a democratizing public square but, in reality, most of the online channels we rely on are controlled by [...]
Khury Petersen-Smith of SocialistWorker.org caught up with Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi to talk about the shady restrictions being placed on the teaching of her book in Chicago. Again, Satrapi showed her insight and savvy and aptly expressed the utter confusion and dismay we are all feeling: What is so horrible in my book that you need guidance? Am I inviting people to [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michael O’Neil / Communications Director 212.807.6222 x 107 / [email protected] NEW YORK, April 8 2013-The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting freedom of thought, inquiry and expression and opposing censorship in all its forms, recently elected Jon Anderson, President and Publisher of Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division, to its board [...]
