Intellectual Freedom News 11/7/2025
Highlights
- “Faith for Libraries” Campaign Will Combat Book Censorship and Defend Religious Freedom | ALA
- Ready to Go: Joining the fight to defend libraries, workers, and the right to read | American Libraries
- The Pulse of Our Profession: Chapter advocacy is vital to the library’s lifeline | American Libraries
- ALA and Simple Mobile launch ‘Connected Communities’ grants to advance mobile literacy in urban libraries | ALA
- AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge | 404
Censorship
- Authors leave Bay Area school after officials censor book ban talk | SFGate (CA)
- ‘We just think it’s cruel’: NY detention facility first to ban book deliveries to detainees | WROC (NY)
- Elizabethtown school board removes books for English classes a week before Lancaster County election | LancasterOnline (PA)
- Jefferson County voters to decide on library levy renewal amid book controversy | WTOV (OH)
- Transgender book ban stalls in Sumner County despite Riley Gaines new board membership | FOX Nashville (TN)
- School districts turn to AI to comply with new state laws about library book content | Texas Standard (TX)
- Statement to D11 School Board: Banning Books Is Not the Answer | Colorado Times Recorder (CO)
- Hall County Schools restricts novel on child sex trafficking after parent complaint | Gainsville Times (GA)
- In a first for the state, Maryland’s school board reverses Harford County’s book ban | Baltimore Banner (MD)
- Benton public schools hide books from students after parent’s complaint, citing two Arkansas laws | Arkansas Advocate (AR)
- Someone tried to ban a book because it supports the “ideology” of coming out. They got shut down. | LGBTQ Nation (FL)
- RCLS announces “emergency closures” to conduct state-mandated inventory reviews | In Decent Libraries of Rutherford County, TN (TN)
- 3 Rutherford County Libraries Close for Tech Overhaul | WGNS (TN)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- NYPD faces federal lawsuit over alleged unconstitutional citywide surveillance | Biometric Update (NY)
- Woman Baffled When Cops Accuse Her of Random Crime, Saying They Have Cameras Everywhere | Futurism (CO)
- Mass Surveillance in the Trump Era | ACLU NorCal
- Lawmakers say stolen police logins are exposing Flock surveillance cameras to hackers | TechCrunch
- License Plate Surveillance Logs Reveal Racist Policing Against Romani People | EFF
- York City Council rejects citywide surveillance plan after years of debate | FOX43 (PA)
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- New Trump administration rule bars student loan relief for public workers tied to ‘illegal’ activity | AP
- Idaho book censorship law bothers Ninth Circuit | Courthouse News Service (ID)
- Fired newspaper adviser sues Indiana University after censorship battle | NBC News (IN)
- Ford Foundation’s New Leader Vows to Protect Elections and the Rule of Law | New York Times
- Court Strikes Down Key Part of Trump’s Unlawful Voting Executive Order, Permanently Blocking Show-Your-Papers Requirement | ACLU
- The Battle in Virginia Over an Activist Who Protested Stephen Miller | New York Times
- Illinois advocates sue over ‘torturous’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility | Guardian (IL)
- 2 Lawsuits Challenge New Rule Limiting Student Loan Forgiveness for Public Servants | New York Times
- Illinois v. Trump (7th Circuit) | Free Speech Center (IL)
- Woman accused of handing out inappropriate comics to children at Halloween event | KFDA (NC)
- Former NPS teacher Summer Boismier files lawsuit against state officials alleging violation of First Amendment rights | OU Daily (OK)
- Texas county book ban could go to SCOTUS | Axios Austin (TX)
- Administration Appoints New Weisman Interim Director, Students Protest After Censorship Controversy | Pepperdine University Graphic (CA)
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- The Assault on Academic Freedom | ABA
- Trump Pressure Risks Free Speech at University of California, Judge Warns | New York Times (CA)
- Tenure is under fire in SC. Defenders say it safeguards academic freedom and fuels the economy. | Post and Courier (SC)
- As UT, Texas faces political pressure experts warn: We’ve seen this before | Austin American-Statesman (TX)
- New Report Shows Right-Wing School Boards Responsible for Book Banning, Censorship and Anti-LGBTQ Policies Across Pennsylvania | Bucks County Beacon (PA)
- Indiana University Lifts Ban on Printing News in College Newspaper | New York Times (IN)
- Journalist, Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan speaks on Palestine, academic freedom at UT | Daily Texan (TX)
- Princeton President’s New Book on Free Speech Sparks Data Dispute with FIRE | Insight into Academia
- Undercover recordings distorted teacher training, union official said | Montana Free Press (MT)
- My University Just Taught Extremists How to Eliminate Academic Programs They Don’t Like | Texas Observer (TX)
- As Trump’s Compact Looms, UT-Austin Affirms ‘Non-Negotiable’ Commitment to Academic Freedom | Chronicle of Higher Education (TX)
- Faculty assembly considers academic freedom with letter to administration on arrested students | Berkeley Beacon (MA)
- Bylaws proposed for new University of Iowa Center for Intellectual Freedom | Gazette (IA)
State & Local Governance
- Alabama State Board of Education to choose new social studies, arts textbooks | Alabama Reflector (AL)
- Election 2025: A Blue Wave in Bucks County as Democrats Sweep Row Offices, Dominate Races Across the County (LIVE Results) | Bucks County Beacon (PA)
- Challenger slate ‘Together for PR’ sweeps election for Pine-Richland School Board | TribLive (PA)
- Gardner Edgerton changes its school board, with one race too close to call | Kansas City Star (KS)
- Progressives Pick Up All 3 Cy-Fair ISD Trustee Seats | Houston Press (TX)
- Dems top in Hempfield, Manheim Township school board races, but falter in E-town, Warwick | Lancaster Online (PA)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Trump admin demands states exempt ISPs from net neutrality and price laws | ArsTechnica
- Trump Admin Pressures States to Scrap Net Neutrality for $42.5B Grants | WebProNews
Journalism & Media
Social Media & AI
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- The Free World is Losing the Information War. Here’s How It Can Win. | Modern War Institute at West Point
- Republicans Reprise Unfounded Claims of Widespread Election Interference | New York Times
International
- Seven Years for Antiwar Stickers? Russian Activist Would Do It Again. | New York Times (Russia)
Around the Web
- In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times | LitHub
- OPINION | Banning books won’t protect kids – it will silence them | Lion’s Roar
- Many book bans in the US could be judging titles mainly by their covers | Scroll.in
- Salman Rushdie: ‘I had no pulse. That’s how close it was’ | Times
- Trump’s Retribution Campaign Leaves D.C. Prosecutor’s Office in Crisis | New York Times
- A book ban by any other name | Wyoming News
- How LAUSD School Zones Perpetuate Educational Inequality, Ignoring ‘Redlining’ Past | 74
- How one South Florida teen continues her fight against banned books and censorship | WLRN
- Trump’s ‘Great Gatsby’ Party Did Not Accept SNAP | New York Times
- Freedom to Read Roundtable pushes back against book bans | NCC Linked
- Seth Meyers Mocks Trump for Calling Him a ‘Deranged Lunatic’: ‘Working Families Are Struggling While You Renovate Your Bathroom’ | Variety
- To Preserve Records, Homeland Security Now Relies on Officials to Take Screenshots | New York Times
- Letter: Resist those trying to use censorship | Globe
- Honour the university library as a creative space with an artist residency | Times Higher Education
- Assault on higher education diminishes value of a Florida degree | Opinion | Sun Sentinel
- Opponents of JD Vance’s Story of America Need to Speak Up | New York Times
- Culture War Dispatches: Pennsylvania schools, Congress and courts become flashpoints | Philadelphia Gay News
- School libraries are at the heart of democracy | SmartBrief
- The nation’s largest book ban: Inside the fight to read in America’s prisons | KPBS
ALA News
- ALA Nominating Committee announces councilors-at-large candidates
- Barnes, Calzada seek ALA presidency for 2027-2028
- Free November 12 Webinar to Explore Key Findings from New PLA Report on Adult Learning in Public Libraries
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