Higher Education

NCAC urges Indiana University to Reschedule Exhibition of Abstract Artist Samia Halaby

By |2024-01-11T17:17:15-05:00January 11th, 2024|Letters, News|

Today, NCAC issued a letter of concern to the leadership of Indiana University, imploring the university to reverse its December 2023 decision to cancel the upcoming retrospective exhibition of renowned Palestinian-American abstract painter, Samia Halaby. “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” was to open in February at the university’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art and feature more than [...]

Middle East Conflict Fallout: A culture of fear and anger takes over US cultural institutions

By |2024-02-05T15:05:45-05:00November 8th, 2023|News|

Intimidation, doxing, blacklists, cancellations. In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza, a wave of extreme intolerance towards speech critical of Israel and supportive of Palestine has swept across cultural and educational institutions. In the United States and Europe, students and professors are being penalized, writers canceled, and artists censored for expressing [...]

ACLU, NCAC oppose removal of abortion-related art from exhibition at Idaho college art gallery

By |2023-03-03T15:12:55-05:00March 3rd, 2023|Blog, Letters, News, Press Releases|

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 [...]

A CENSORSHIP TSUNAMI

By |2023-03-10T16:51:24-05:00March 2nd, 2023|Censorship News Articles, News, Press Releases, Statement|

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 [...]

NCAC monitors fate of The Cooper Union’s Vkhutemas exhibition

By |2023-05-12T17:20:10-04:00February 27th, 2023|Blog, Letters, News|

Photo Caption: Flickr user Vincent Desjardins via Creative Commons license UPDATE: 5/12/2023 -  Following initial postponements, the Vkhutemas exhibition opened to the public from April 25 - May 5, 2023. Cooper Union stated that the postponement was necessary to develop and incorporate an expanded framework for the exhibition, along with additional contextual materials and relevant programming to better address [...]

NCAC, CAA contact Macalester College to assist in response to TARAVAT controversy

By |2023-03-10T16:55:35-05:00February 24th, 2023|Blog, Letters, News, Press Releases|

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 [...]

NCAC, FIRE release joint letter on censorship of State College of Florida art exhibition

By |2023-03-10T17:33:32-05:00February 23rd, 2023|Blog, In The News, Letters, News, Press Releases|

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 [...]

NCAC and CAA denounce Arkansas Tech University’s handling of Controversial Exhibition

By |2023-02-23T21:15:18-05:00February 7th, 2023|Blog, News, Press Releases|

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 [...]

Statement on Faculty Firing at Hamline University | UPDATED

By |2023-01-18T13:16:30-05:00January 10th, 2023|News|

Updated 01/18/2023— NCAC and CAA have sent this joint statement to the Hamline University president. In an egregious and chilling violation of academic freedom, Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota refused to renew the contract of an adjunct professor in retaliation for her inclusion of two artworks depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a class on global art history. As [...]

Following advocacy efforts by NCAC and DDA, Meta pledges to improve transparency around “shadowbanning”

By |2023-02-23T21:16:17-05:00December 9th, 2022|Blog, In The News, News, Press Releases|

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 [...]

NCAC Opposes Removal of Mural Depicting Slavery

By |2020-07-27T11:47:28-04:00June 24th, 2020|News|

NCAC is asking the University of Kentucky (UK) to cancel recently announced plans to remove a 1930’s-era mural depicting aspects of Kentucky history, including slavery. Some students have demanded its removal because they consider it demeaning to people of color on campus. In 2018, the university commissioned an installation by Karyn Olivier, a noted Black artist, that was painted above [...]

Libel Judgment Threatens Free Speech on College Campuses

By |2020-07-27T11:42:27-04:00June 17th, 2020|News|

NCAC has joined several free speech organizations in supporting Oberlin College’s appeal of a $44 million libel judgment that threatens the free speech rights of its faculty and students. They filed an amicus brief in an Ohio appeals court on June 5. The case grew out of the arrest of three African American students in 2016 for attempted theft at [...]

NCAC Calls on Zoom to Defend Educators from Chinese Censorship

By |2020-07-07T16:37:31-04:00June 9th, 2020|News|

On June 15, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and PEN America joined in protesting Zoom’s decision to close the account of Humanitarian China, a U.S.-based nonprofit that promotes the development of human rights in China.  Zoom acted at the request of Chinese officials who wanted to suppress a virtual meeting commemorating the [...]

University of Kentucky Unveils Installation to Encourage Dialogue about Race

By |2020-01-03T15:51:06-05:00August 28th, 2018|Blog|

The University of Kentucky has unveiled a new site-specific public artwork by Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier, commissioned in response to a heated controversy around a fresco that students said was traumatizing, creating a model for balancing conflict and tensions around campus art.

NCAC Joins FIRE and the ACLU Urging the University of Kansas to Restore American Flag Artwork

By |2018-07-18T12:24:48-04:00July 16th, 2018|Blog|

NCAC has joined the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kansas in a letter to the University of Kansas (KU) strongly urging it to take a stand against censorship by restoring a public artwork that the university removed last week.

Kansas Governor and Secretary of State Pressure University to Remove Artwork | UPDATE: NCAC Co-Signs Joint Letter

By |2022-10-03T16:26:24-04:00July 12th, 2018|Blog, News, Press Releases|

Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kris Kobach separately pressured officials at the University of Kansas (KU) to remove an art display, threatening the free expression of the artist, curator and KU students.

Life Imitates Art: By Cancelling Play in Response to Controversy, Brandeis Compromises Freedom of Academic Discussion

By |2019-06-12T16:49:50-04:00November 8th, 2017|Blog|

Brandeis University has had to cancel a scheduled production of a play by Michael Weller after the playwright and the Theater Department failed to come to terms as to how the play would be presented.

Censored on Campus: Paul Rucker’s Exhibition on Race in America

By |2020-01-05T23:16:13-05:00October 31st, 2017|Blog|

Paul Rucker's traveling exhibition REWIND, an urgently relevant multi-media installation that addresses the history of racial injustice in America, was closed to the public by York College of Pennsylvania, less than one week into its run. Paul sat down with NCAC to discuss the incident.

Why NCAC Objects to ‘Restore Campus Free Speech’ Bills

By |2020-01-03T15:46:01-05:00July 7th, 2017|Blog|

Yesterday, NCAC sent a letter to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper urging him to veto a bill dubbed as a measure to “restore” and “preserve” free speech on state college campuses. But why would an organization devoted to free expression like NCAC object to an effort to safeguard free speech at universities?

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