Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) have reintroduced a vital resolution condemning the surge in book bans across schools, libraries, and universities nationwide. As we celebrate Banned Books Week, this resolution upholds the First Amendment rights of students and affirms that the freedom to read is essential for a healthy democracy. Over 10,000 books have been banned [...]
UPDATE - July 10, 2024: Following NCAC’s advocacy efforts, Public Art UHS completed the installation of Shahzia Sikander’s exhibition, Havah… to breathe, air, life and revised its FAQ document to include more information about the work from the artist. Months following the installation of the exhibition, Sikander’s sculpture, titled Witness, was beheaded by an unidentified vandal. The artist has requested [...]
Recent news reports have surfaced, revealing attempts by the Biden administration to pressure Amazon to censor controversial anti-vaccine books and search results. According to the reports, representatives of the Biden administration have urged Amazon executives to take action against books that the administration has deemed to contain misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) condemns [...]
NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), in collaboration with five prominent organizations, including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Authors Alliance, Fight for The Future, and First Amendment Coalition, have filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down laws in Florida and Texas that empower states to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of [...]
NEW YORK— Don’t Delete Art (DDA)—a collaborative initiative uniting advocacy groups and artists in the defense of artistic freedom online—held A Day of Action today in New York City and online. The actions are an extension of the group’s Manifesto campaign, which urges social media companies to integrate artistic perspectives into content moderation policies. The day's activities are documented [...]
(NEW YORK) – PEN America, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) on Monday jointly filed an amicus brief to support the First Amendment rights of Netflix in a lawsuit over the series 13 Reasons Why, which depicted suicide. Netflix is being sued for damages following a 15-year-old girl’s [...]
New York, NY— Don’t Delete Art (DDA)—a collaborative initiative uniting advocacy groups and artists in the defense of artistic freedom online—will lead A Day of Action on June 15, 2023, in New York City and on social media. The actions are an extension of the DDA Manifesto campaign, which urges social media companies to update their content moderation policies [...]
NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) continues to build influence in the fields of entertainment, law, and publishing by adding to its board Amy Berkower, president of Writers House LLC, Jonathan Bloom, former Counsel at the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, and stand-up comedian Judy Gold. The addition of new leadership comes at a [...]
NEW YORK – As proven by the recent uptick in book banning, people often want to silence ideas that they feel are harmful or offensive. Daily, youth are confronted with views they disagree with, from school censorship to online hate speech. How are youth and young adults coping with conflicting viewpoints? The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wants [...]
The NCAC has joined PEN America and more than a dozen other civil liberties, digital rights, and anti-censorship organizations in a joint letter to oppose proposed federal legislation and a wholesale ban on the social media platform TikTok. The joint letter acknowledges the platform's national security and user privacy concerns. It also encourages lawmakers to explore viable solutions to prevent jeopardizing [...]
UPDATE 1/10/2024: On November 29, 2023, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation announced a settlement with Hyatt Regency Miami, requiring the latter to pay a $5,000 fine and prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from attending performances with “specific sexual activities” as defined by Florida State Law. NEW YORK - As organizations dedicated to the freedom of [...]
NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announced today that Executive Director Christopher M. Finan will retire this summer after 40 years of defending free expression and First Amendment rights. Before joining NCAC in 2017, Finan was president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and executive director of Media Coalition, a trade association that [...]
New York – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is now accepting applications for Student Advocates for Speech (SAS), a project for high school students, for the 2023 - 2024 school year. NCAC assists SAS student leaders in creating school clubs where they can learn about the importance of free speech and advocate for their rights and the rights of [...]
Lewis-Clark State College announced that it will pull several artworks addressing abortion care from an upcoming exhibition for fear of violating the state’s No Public Funds for Abortion Act LEWISTON, Idaho – In a letter sent to Lewis-Clark State College President Dr. Cynthia Pemberton, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, and the National Coalition Against [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship is deeply concerned by the decision to cancel the publication of a self-help book by cartoonist Scott Adams because of offensive remarks he made on YouTube. It comes during a time of an increased policing of ideas. We are in the midst of a national censorship crisis in public schools and libraries. Pressure on [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has issued the following statement of support for Texas HB 1945 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is an alliance of more than 50 national non-profit literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that are united in their commitment to freedom of expression. NCAC is writing in support of Texas House [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to St. Johns County School District in St. Augustine, Florida. Under their current policy, books are being removed during the review process, a practice we have long opposed. We encourage the District to adopt better policies for addressing book challenges in their schools. Read our full letter below, or click [...]
The AAUP, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) issued the following statement condemning the introduction of Florida HB 999. With the introduction of HB 999, the Florida legislature—at Governor DeSantis’s urging—has doubled down on its attacks on academic freedom with a bill that would effectively silence faculty and students across the ideological [...]
NCAC has released a statement in support of the Student Journalist Free Speech Act and applauding New York student activists' efforts to support student free press rights. The act provides that, "a student journalist shall have the right to exercise free speech and of the press in school-sponsored media," and adds necessary protections for educators who advise and support [...]
Image caption: Taravat Talepasand, Demons, Dictators, Blasphemy, and Man, 2016. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the College Art Association (CAA) have contacted Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to express concerns about how its campus gallery handled the controversy surrounding an exhibition entitled TARAVAT. The college's efforts to address local concerns have profoundly impacted the artistic freedom [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has shared a letter with the School Board of Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, concerning a potential violation of district policy and the improper temporary removal of Erika Moen's and Matthew Nolan's book Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human from library shelves. After [...]
Photo Credit: Clifford McDonald, Good Trouble, 2023 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) are alarmed by reports of the apparently politically motivated censorship of an art exhibition entitled "Embracing Kindness" at the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota’s Bradenton campus. Please see our letter attached, which outlines our concerns below: Click [...]
Updated 4/12/2023 – In March, Superintendent Dan Behm issued a public apology for removing -books from school libraries. Some of the removed books have been returned to some or all the districts' libraries and are now available to students. However, others remain missing. The district is reportedly revising its policy for challenging books. As of March 30, 2023, Forest [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship objects to Kutztown Area School District's Superintendent’s unilateral decision to cancel the One-Book Project following complaints about the climate change themes of the selected book. We urge the district to reinstate the project and adjudicate any challenges pursuant to the district's policy. Read NCAC's full letter to the Kutztown Area School District here: Click here [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to Madison County School Board in Madison, Virginia, to express our concern with recent district policy changes requiring books that include "explicit sexual content" to be removed even if they have substantial educational value for students. It's our understanding that this policy has already led to the removal of over 20 books [...]
NEW YORK, February 8, 2023 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today demanded that officials in a western Michigan school district investigate whether their superintendent secretly ordered the removal of books, violating a policy that requires a formal review before a book is banned. They also pointed officials to an audio recording in which a man who has [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the College Art Association (CAA) expressed their deep concern with Arkansas Tech University’s handling of its on-campus exhibition, Artifacts, by artist Dominique Simmons. According to the artist's statement, Artifacts sought to acknowledge “the past, good and bad,” as it relates to the American South and included fraught imagery. However, the university’s museum [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has written to McKinney Independent School District in McKinney, Texas, concerning a recent change to district policy. The District has amended Board Policy EFB Local to exclude books from school libraries that contain material that appeals to "the prurient interest of a minor in sex, nudity, or excretion" or describes sexual activity in [...]
NEW YORK - Student journalists play an essential role in their schools by covering complex and, at times, controversial issues that aim to broaden interest in contemporary issues among their peers and community members. The National Coalition Against Censorship's (NCAC) Student Advocates for Speech (SAS) project and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) will host Fighting for Press Freedom: [...]
NEW YORK, January 30, 2023 - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), an alliance of 59 national literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups, is alarmed by the introduction of two bills in the North Dakota legislature that would make it a crime for booksellers to display a wide range of books and ban libraries from [...]
NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today released a new resource that provides practical advice for authors whose books are being challenged and banned in K – 12 schools and libraries. Prepared in collaboration with writers who have faced censorship, it is available on the NCAC website. Book challenges can be exasperating, demoralizing, and deeply painful for [...]
National Coalition Against Censorship joins the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in a joint letter in response to the Florida College System Council of Presidents' pledge to enforce the “Stop WOKE Act” and remove all" woke" positions and ideologies from university and college curriculum. Read our full letter. Click here for a full screen view. [...]
Updated 01/24/2023— On Friday, January 20, the Florida Department of Education released a list of reasons for rejecting the Advanced Placement course. This document makes it clear that what the state officials really object to is not a lack of educational value but some of the ideas discussed in the course. For example, they reject the discussion of Black [...]
NEW YORK — The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America, and the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, organizations dedicated to artistic, intellectual, and academic freedom, today expressed deep concern over the cancellation of the student production of the play, Indecent, by the administration at Douglas Anderson School of Performing Arts in Duval County, Florida. The groups urged school officials [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) contacted Wilson County Schools Board in Lebanon, Tennessee, in regards to the School Board's decision to remove Tricks by Ellen Hopkins and Lev A.C. Rosen's Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) despite the book review committee's recommendations to retain the books. NCAC expressed concern that the board may have removed the titles due to disagreement with the [...]
NEW YORK - The National Coalition Against Censorship is saddened by the death of Joyce Meskis, a Colorado bookseller for over 40 years who won many important fights against censorship at the state and national level. Meskis died in Denver on December 22. She was 80. Meskis was a divorced mother of two young daughters when she bought a [...]
Today the NCAC provided a letter of concern to the Frisco Independent School District Board of Trustees regarding removing more than 100 titles deemed “patently offensive” from its libraries. We are concerned because while the district policy only requires the removal of material that includes “patently offensive” illustrations of sexual acts, the guidelines used by the district’s review committee [...]
New York - The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 education, publishing, religious and arts organizations, and Don’t Delete Art (DDA), a collaborative project between NCAC and several other organizations and artists, welcome Meta’s recent announcement of Instagram policy updates that promise to improve transparency around downranking for the platform’s professional account users. The announcement follows several [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship joins the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other free speech champions in a joint letter to express concern regarding the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal and extradition proceedings relating to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, under the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Click here for a full-screen view of the [...]
SAN FRANCISCO —Indie tech-book publisher No Starch Press is partnering with Humble Bundle to offer customers a pay-what-you-want ebook deal that raises money for charity. This highly anticipated three-week promotion builds upon the Bay Area companies’ past collaborations, which have raised over $2.7 million for various nonprofit organizations to date. "Hacking, by No Starch Press" runs until Dec. 19 [...]
