Intellectual Freedom News 2/21/2025
Highlights
- ALA, AASL decry U.S. Defense Department censorship of schools and libraries on military installations | ALA
- American Library Association Names Skip Dye Honorary Member | ALA
- American Library Association (ALA) opens registration for its 2025 Annual Conference & Exhibition and announces three legendary speakers | ALA
Censorship
- North Gibson School Board decides not to ban book with split vote | 14News (IN)
- Knoxville residents concerned for the education of Knox County School students after recent book banning | Daily Beacon (TN)
- Tennessee sees surge in books banned in public schools. Here’s which ones and why | Tennessean (TN)
- Schools serving military service members’ kids are pulling books on civil rights history after Trump’s DEI threats | Independent
- Executive order raises concern over book bans across Maine | Maine Campus (ME)
- School districts don’t want these books on the shelves | Click2Houston (TX)
- Books mentioning slavery, civil rights removed from shelves at Fort Campbell schools | Clarksville Now (KY)
- The whitewashing of military schools | Popular Information
- Controversial ‘banned’ book removed from Volusia County school libraries | FOX35 (FL)
- Banning Books In Prison: State Website Lists Titles Considered Inappropriate For Inmates | SFGate (CA)
- Fremont County Library Director Publicly Reprimanded After Speaking Against Obscenity Bill | Cowboy State Daily (WY)
- Pine-Richland school board meeting on book policy turns contentious | CBS News (PA)
- UASD on path to institute library restrictions | Gettysburg Times (PA)
- Kootenai County libraries approved every relocation request for its mature collection with one notable exception: The Bible | Spokesman-Review (ID)
- Costs mounting in Florida’s book removal battle | Independent Florida Alligator (FL)
- School board votes to continue use of challenged book | Astorian (OR)
- Spring Cove Votes on Policy 109 Regard Books Being Brought into the School District | Mirrosns Cove Herald (PA)
- Civil liberties groups demand Fort Worth police end child pornography investigation against museum | Fort Worth Report (TX)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Why dismantling the PCLOB and CSRB threatens privacy and national security | Brookings
- Houlton residents frustrated by costly, ‘Orwellian’ surveillance program | The County (ME)
- Struggle Over Americans’ Personal Data Plays Out Across the Government | New York Times
- Top Social Security Official Leaves After Musk Team Seeks Data Access | New York Times
- Musk Team Seeks Access to I.R.S. System With Taxpayers’ Records | New York Times
- What could schools expect under the new COPPA Rule? | K-12 Dive
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Education Department axes over $600M in grants training teachers on ‘divisive ideologies’ | ABC4News
- Education Department Cancels Another $350M in Contracts, Grants | Inside Higher Education
- Trump’s Executive Order Threatens Public School Funding Through Censorship Of and Hostility Toward Equity Efforts and Issues | Legal Defense Fund
- New Jersey court blocks policies that force outing of transgender students | Out in Jersey (NJ)
- In Trump’s Cuts to Aid and Refugees, a Clash Over Christian Values | New York Times
- DEI Initiatives in the Crosshairs of the Administration: What Nonprofits Need to Know to Mitigate Their Risk | Nonprofit Alliance
- Parents Lose Appeal Over School’s Gender Identity Notification Policy | EducationWeek
- The First Amendment vs. the Wannabe King | Nation
- The Trump administration has dismantled boards working in privacy and civil liberties | Texas Standard
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Federal ‘Dear Colleague Letter’ focuses on a debate over DEI in schools, colleges | Indiana Gazette
- Trump administration gives schools a deadline to end DEI programs or risk losing federal money | AP
Legislation
- “Just Protect The Books:” Readers Speak Up For Bill Protecting Libraries & Librarians | New Haven Arts (CT)
- Bill to ban discriminatory book bans in Oregon moves forward | KATU (OR)
- Proposed bill would ban minors from attending drag shows in Iowa | Gazette (IA)
- Bill proposes removing obscenity law exemptions for libraries, schools | Iowa Capital Dispatch (IA)
- SC lawmakers look to combat school book removal efforts with ‘Freedom to Read’ bill | WIS (SC)
- Lawmakers go toe-to-toe on school library policies, complaints | Concord Monitor (NH)
- Legislative committee endorses prosecution of librarians who lend books deemed harmful to children | South Dakota Searchlight (SD)
- Colorado Senate passes bill that would make it harder for certain books to be banned from school libraries | Denver7ABC (CO)
State & Local Governance
- Legislators request JLARC study Virginia book removals over past 4 years | Cardinal News (VA)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Net neutrality under Trump? Not so neutral | Computerworld
- Groups ask US court to reconsider ruling blocking net neutrality rules | Reuters
Social Media & AI
- Anti-LGBTQIA+ changes to social media platforms leave users grappling with whether to stay | Prism
- Elon Musk took aim at ‘aggressive censorship’ – and immediately got called out | Indy100
- OpenAI tries to ‘uncensor’ ChatGPT | TechCrunch
- The courts must decide between Elon Musk and the First Amendment | Hill
Journalism & Media
- State Dept. orders cancellation of news subscriptions around the world | Washington Post
- Trump bans AP and words he doesn’t like. ‘Free speech’ was never about First Amendment. | Opinion | USA Today
- Musk accused Reuters of ‘social deception.’ The deception was his. | Washington Post
- MS city says newspaper must remove critical editorial | WREG (MS)
- ‘Things are pretty grim out there’: Media censorship under the Trump administration | Pitt News
- Houston Station Pulls Story Over School District’s Controversial Book Policies | AdWeek (TX)
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- As Missing and Altered CDC Webpages Threaten Patient Care, Efforts Grow to Fill Information Gaps | JAMA
- Online Election Manipulation Is a Challenge for Democracy. It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse. | TechPolicyPress
- Trump falsely calls Zelensky ‘a dictator’ after Ukraine’s leader accuses him of living in ‘disinformation space’ | CNN
- Trump Firings Impact ‘Front Line of Surveillance’ for Bird Flu Outbreak | Rolling Stone
- Ukraine: The Past, Present, and Future of Russian Disinformation | Lawfare
International
- German Chancellor Rebukes Vance for Supporting Party That Downplays Nazis | New York Times (Germany)
- Trump Officials Attack a German Consensus on Nazis and Speech | New York Times (Germany)
- The Far Right is Rising in the Land of ‘Never Again’ | New York Times (Germany)
- Police seize books promoting ideology of banned organisation | Tribune (India)
- Freedom to Read: Calgary Public Library addresses book challenges and bans | Calgary Herald (Canada)
- Trump Media Sues Brazilian Judge—And Musk Foe—For Alleged Censorship | Forbes (Brazil)
- Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It. | New York Times
- Destiny Church violent protests: Politicians condemn actions, Police open assault investigation | New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
- Journalists in Pakistan raise concerns over change to law they say will stifle speech | NPR (Pakistan)
Around the Web
- Refusing to Carry Out Trump’s Flagrantly Dishonest Orders | New York Times
- Julianne Moore Slams Censorship of Her Children’s Book ‘Freckleface Strawberry’ by Trump Administration | IndieWire
- Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash | New York Times
- Democrats grapple for response on education as GOP charges ahead | Hill
- Race, sex and the Holocaust: As book bans grow across the state, some genres see more bans | Tennessean
- Des Moines Public Schools hasn’t banned a single book since Iowa’s new law. It’s not alone | Des Moines Register
- Bucks County NAACP Town Hall Seeks to Dispel Misinformation Surrounding DEI and Critical Race Theory | Bucks County Beacon
- Federal support for book bans will harm students, librarians warn | Brown Daily Herald
- Julianne Moore’s children’s book about redheads is under ‘review’. What’s happening with US book bans under Trump? | Conversation
- Rochester Pride to host author whose book was removed from elementary school shelves | Minnesota Star Tribune
- Erasing Black History? These Unions Say Not on Their Watch | Word In Black
- JFK Presidential Library closes amid Trump federal worker culling | WWLP
- Ex-NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested while protesting ‘MAGA’ sign at Southern California city council meeting | Yahoo! Sports
- Trump moves on education coming fast, but schools waiting for official guidance | Hill
ALA News
- Core Webinar – Artificial Intelligence and Libraries: Leading the Technological Shift
- Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Cut Through the Noise; Strategic Promotion
- Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table accepting applications for 2025 Comics Librarian Conference Travel Grant
- Core Interest Group Week Features 31 Free Sessions from March 3-7
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