Recent investigations by the media, and an impending congressional oversight hearing, have highlighted Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Senior Advisor Karl Rove's role in censoring the findings of biologists working for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The Three Rivers Arts Festival (TRAF) in Pittsburgh pulled a video installation by artist Carolina Loyola-Garcia from display in its “Best of Pittsburgh 2007” exhibition. One of the Festival’s corporate sponsors, PPG Industries, had offered its property for the exhibition but objected to the video installation on the basis that it was inappropriate for display. The video, entitled “The need [...]
I am writing on behalf of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations united in defense of free expression, regarding the recent removal from the Three Rivers Arts Festival of a video installation by Carolina Loyola-Garcia entitled “The need to wash the self with milk and honey.”
In the now-infamous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case – Morse v. Frederick – the Supreme Court ruled this week that school principal Deborah Morse did not violate Joseph Frederick's First Amendment rights. Below, we've collected commentary on how this landmark case (the first time the Court has weighed students' free speech rights in over 20 years) could affect free speech in the future.
The annual “Art ‘Round Town” (A.R.T.) exhibition brings 42 outdoor sculptures to public areas throughout downtown Saugatuck, Michigan. This year’s favorite among the panel of A.R.T. judges is a resin and bronze sculpture by South Haven, MI artist, Patrick McKearnan. The sculpture depicts a nude toddler writing "Who is responsible here?" on a wall. Having received the most votes from [...]
Update: TAC No Longer Practices No-Nudity Policy July 12, 2007 In response to our concern we received a letter from the Tennessee State Attorney General’s office stating the nudity and “suggestiveness” of the piece was not the reason for the removal of the work. While the facts of the case are still under dispute and the artist is receiving help [...]
We write to express concerns about the recent removal of the book The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson from circulation in the Bartlesville Mid-High school library. We understand that the book was removed following parent Angela Rader’s objection to homosexual themes and descriptions of underage drinking in the book.
Bob McCaslin, Mayor City Hall Building 117 West Central Bentonville, AR 72712 Cindy Suter, Library Director Members of the Library Advisory Board 405 S. Main Street Bentonville, AR 72712 May 1, 2007 Dear Mayor McCaslin, Ms. Suter, and Members of the Library Advisory Board: We write to express our concern about the recent removal of the book, The Whole [...]
Dr. David Flowers, Superintendent Members of the Book Reconsideration Committee Fargo Public Schools 415 North 4th Street Fargo, ND 58102 April 30, 2007 Dear Superintendent Flowers and Members of the Book Reconsideration Committee: We write to express concern about efforts to remove the books, Finding Laura Buggs and Until They Bring the Street Cars Back, both by Stanley Gordon West, [...]
UPDATED: Harford County's school superintendent reverses decision and The Chocolate War is returned to classrooms (Baltimore Sun, 11/20/07) Jacqueline C. Haas, ...
(Baltimore Examiner) Superintendent Jacqueline Haas will go before the Harford County Board of Education on Tuesday to announce that Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” will be pulled from the mandatory ninth-grade “living in a contemporary world” class, despite a review committee’s unanimous ruling that it should be kept. Parents came to Board of Education meetings throughout the summer to protest [...]
We write to oppose efforts to remove the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, from Newton High School’s required reading list and to suggest certain amendments to your current policies regarding book challenges.
We write to oppose efforts to remove the book, Fools Crow by James Welch, from Helena High School’s sophomore English curriculum.
In a disturbing act of censorship, Texas State Rep. Boris Miles personally removed works of art from an exhibit sponsored by The Moratorium Project (a group opposed to the death penalty) and displayed in the Texas Capitol Building in Austin. The exhibition was part of an initiative to hold “public purpose” exhibits at the Capitol.
Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, John Weidman, Marsha Norman, Doug Wright, John Guare, John Patrick Shanley and many other prominent members of the Dramatists Guild joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and other free speech advocates to oppose the banning of a student play about Iraq in Wilton, CT.
Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, John Weidman, Marsha Norman, Doug Wright, John Guare, John Patrick Shanley and many other prominent members of the Dramatists Guild joined the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and other free speech advocates to oppose the banning of a student play about Iraq in Wilton, CT.
In Wilton, CT, as part of an advanced theater class at Wilton High School, theater teacher, Bonnie Dickinson, asked her class to create a play about the conflict in Iraq. Her goal was to encourage kids to put themselves in the shoes of soldiers close to their age in Iraq.
Stephen W. Daeschner, Superintendent Jefferson County Public Schools Jefferson County Board of Education Box 34020 Louisville, KY 40232 March 30, 2007 Dear Superintendent Daeschner and Members of the Board of Education: We are troubled by the recent removal of the book, Beloved by Toni Morrison, from the Advanced Placement (AP) English classes at Eastern High School. We understand that [...]
Detroit -- On March 20, 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan announced a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) against the State of Michigan for violating the first amendment rights of the festival.
We are troubled by media reports of efforts to remove a number of books from two public school libraries in Duval County. We understand that parents have objected to Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler at Mandarin High School and to Lucky by Eddie de Oliveira, Beyond the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume, and Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henkes at LaVilla School of the Arts.
We write to express concern about objections to Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler, which is in the school library at Mandarin High School. We understand that a few parents have objected to certain language in the book and, at minimum, want the school to require parental permission before students can check it out.
Early in 2007, the Newbery Award-winning novel The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron became the subject of a dispute among authors and librarians across the country over its use of the word “scrotum.” Following a report in the New York Times, the story of Patron’s challenged book became national news, and many school librarians have hesitated to purchase [...]
NEW YORK, NY, March 8, 2007 -- The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today welcomed decisions by federal, state and local prosecutors upholding the right of students in Howell, Michigan, to read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, and Augusten Burroughs’ Running with [...]
We write to express concern about efforts to remove Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher from the tenth grade English curriculum in Missouri Valley High School. We understand that the book has been challenged because of objections to language.
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today condemned the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan for asking the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate a complaint that books used in the public schools of Howell, Michigan, are obscene.
The Brooklyn Central Public Library on Grand Army Plaza embroiled itself in a censorship controversy this February by excluding several pieces from a show documenting the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards neighborhood. The exhibition, “Footprints: Portrait of a Brooklyn Neighborhood,” first appeared at Grand Center, a community space in Prospect Heights. When the Library offered to host the show, it also stipulated [...]
» Read the letter to the school board NEW YORK, NY, February 13, 2007 – The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today welcomed a Michigan school board’s decision to reject demands that it censor Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye , Richard Wright’s Black Boy , Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five , and [...]
We write to oppose efforts to remove the books, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Black Boy by Richard Wright, from the Howell High School 11 th grade English curriculum.
A hearing held on January 30, 2007, by the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform revealed a widespread pattern of political interference in the operations of federal scientific activities, including censorship of federal scientists’ speech and writing, the distortion and suppression of research results, and retaliation against those who protest these acts. These charges raise profoundly important [...]
According to Variety Magazine, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) are instituting changes to the longstanding film ratings system.
A recent, troubling incident involving an art exhibition sponsored by the Centro Cultural Aztlan in San Antonio, Texas merits your attention and voice in opposition to attempts to limit artistic expression. A piece by artist Anna-Marie Lopez, initially selected for display in the Centro’s annual tribute to the Virgen de Guadalupe, was rejected shortly before the opening of the exhibition. [...]
January 9, 2007 Mr. Ned Crouch, Director Customs House Museum & Cultural Center P.O. Box 383 Clarkesville, TN 37041-0383 Re: William Gentry Exhibit Dear Mr. Crouch, I am writing on behalf of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 50 national non-profit organizations united in defense of free expression, regarding the recent removal of the William Gentry art [...]
We write to oppose efforts to remove the book, So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, from the sixth-grade English curriculum in the Dover-Sherborn School District, and to censor its author.
Art Institute of California-San Fransisco Pulls Student Magazine From Circulation March 5, 2007 In December 2006, a student magazine prepared as the ...
The director of the Customs House Museum in Clarksville, TN, removed an installation by William Gentry just hours after it was put on display for fear that the deep-fried flags in the installation would offend community sensitivities and imperil the museum's public funding. Art student William Gentry said his piece, "The Fat Is in the Fire," was a commentary [...]
Nearly a year after NASA climatologist James Hansen accused federal officials of censoring his views on global warming, scientific freedom is shaping up as a key issue for the next Congress.
Below is NCAC's letter to the Marshall Public Library President regarding efforts to remove two graphic novels from the shelves. For more details on graphic novels and free speech, see NCAC's guide to graphic novels for librarians. Anita Wright, President Board of Trustees Marshall Public Library Marshall, Missouri [email protected] October 6, 2006 Dear Ms. Wright: On behalf of the [...]
Update: The Marshall Public Library Board of Trustees voted to return Fun Home and Blankets to the shelves of the library, based on their newly adopted Materials Selection Policy. Background: Click here for NCAC's letter to the Marshall Public Library President regarding efforts to remove two graphic novels from the shelves. For more details on graphic novels and [...]
The Ann Arbor Film Festival has recently had its state funding cut due to screening films that some state legislators and special interest groups are deeming too controversial; in fact the word “pornographic” was used to describe some of our content.
» Click here for the AAFF's statement on the funding controversy The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which successfully attacked public funding for the Ann Arbor Film Festival this year, believes government should not spend a penny to support the arts. Fortunately, however, most Americans - and the majority of state and local legislators - take a different position. They [...]