Intellectual Freedom News 2/7/2025
Highlights
Censorship
- The library system in Kootenai County pulled 140 books from its shelves to review for its adults-only room | Spokesman-Review (ID)
- ACLU calls on Glocester School District to halt arbitrary restrictions on student access to books | Steve Ahlquist (RI)
- Author of book rejected by Pine-Richland School Board plans to visit district in late February | TribLive (PA)
- President Trump signs executive order banning critical race theory in K-12 schools | KTSM
- Lyon residents call for materials removal from libraries | Nevada Appeal (NV)
- Some South Carolina teachers feel censored after more books are banned from schools | WCCB (SC)
- Books and libraries could be in trouble across the state; Alabama students working to save them | WVTM (AL)
- Brentwood’s Role in Moms for Liberty Program Underscores Curriculum Debate in Tennessee | Nashville Banner (TN)
- A dozen West Point cadet clubs ordered to disband, all others paused | Hill
- ‘Mama’s Nightingale’ author defends book after Darien schools’ removal, a decade after publishing | Stamford Advocate (CT)
- Greenville libraries banned displays. Now, domestic violence helpline posters are gone. | Post And Courier (SC)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- COPPA is All Grown Up: FTC Finalizes Rule | JDSupra
- Google quietly changes stance on using AI for weapons or surveillance | Silicon Angle
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- ACLU sues on behalf of fired librarian | Arkansas Times (AR)
- Donnelly Library, major book publishers sue Idaho over ‘vague and sweeping’ library law | Boise Dev (ID)
- Civil rights complaint filed against Elizabeth district by former dean who objected to book ban | Denver7ABC (CO)
- Federal judge dismisses case claiming community college diversity policies infringe on academic freedom | EdSource (CA)
- Federal Workers Ordered to Remove Gender Identity From Email Signatures | New York Times
- Legal groups urge Texas school districts to reject ‘unconstitutional’ new curriculum | KERA (TX)
- House asserts bar associations’ First Amendment rights, says AG’s Honors Program should be reinstated | ABA Journal
- Education Officials Placed on Leave in Trump’s Sprawling Effort to Curb D.E.I. | New York Times
- ACLU files lawsuit challenging Trump’s move to close U.S. asylum system | CBS News
- As Trump Attacks Diversity, a Racist Undercurrent Surfaces | New York Times
- Trump cited an MMSD policy in an executive order. Why? | Daily Cardinal (VA)
- Trump Brazenly Defies Laws in Escalating Executive Power Grab | New York Times
- Department of Education Reverts to Trump’s Title IX Rule | Inside Higher Ed
- U.S. Attorney Vows to Target Anyone Who Tries to Stop Elon Musk’s DOGE | New Republic
- Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Nationwide | New York Times
- Trump Signs Order to Fight ‘Anti-Christian Bias’ | New York Times
- Joint Letter Objecting to Censorship in New White House Executive Order on Gender Identity | PEN America
- PFLAG v. Trump | ACLU
- How to resist Trump’s order imposing classroom censorship and discrimination | EdSource
- Richmond County School System issues statement regarding executive orders on immigration, school protections | WJBF (GA)
- California AG touts safe haven for LGBTQ+, undocumented students amid Trump executive orders | KCRA (CA)
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Trump’s Executive Order Targets Pro-Palestine Students And Free Speech on Campuses | In These Times
- UNF faculty protest as Florida limits what qualify as ‘core classes’ | JaxToday (FL)
- New Executive Order on Campus Antisemitism— ”Reminiscent of McCarthyism”— Can Become a Tool to Silence International Students and Staff | PEN America
- US civil liberties union sues University of Michigan for banning student pro-Palestine protesters | Jurist News
- US science funding freeze a ‘threat to academic freedom’ | DW
- New Voices Act could give Kentucky high school journalists more free press protections | WKMS (KY)
Legislation
- Republican lawmakers continue to target DEI at Iowa universities through House Higher Ed Committee | Iowa Public Radio (IA)
- Should Nebraska schools be required notify parents when their child checks out a library book? | Omaha World-Herald (NE)
- Lee Wins Long-Sought Universal School Voucher Plan in Tennessee | Nashville Banner (TN)
- Lawmakers weigh library censorship. Again. | North Dakota Monitor (ND)
Social Media
- Social media users risk fragmenting into silos after Trump election victory, experts warn | Sky News
- Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like | TechDirt
Journalism & Media
- White House Cracks Down on News Subscriptions | New York Times
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- CDC Data Are Disappearing | Atlantic
- E.P.A. Demotes Career Employees Overseeing Science, Enforcement and More | New York Times
- Vaccine Information, Transgender References Disappear From Federal Websites | Wall Street Journal
- Are we protecting free speech, or disinformation? | WAMC
International
- Montreal backtracks and allows English book club in library, says French laws unclear | Village Report (Canada)
- Foreign Strongmen Cheer as Musk Dismantles U.S. Aid Agency | New York Times
- Putin’s disinformation networks flood social media in bid to skew German election | Politico (Germany)
Around the Web
- Trump’s education department says book bans are a ‘hoax.’ Teachers disagree. | 19th
- Brainwashing 101: Trump’s Plan to Rewrite American History | Coffman Chronicle
- What Is ‘State Capture’? A Warning for Americans. | New York Times
- Removed or banned? The Florida fight over challenged school books goes national | NPR
- Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System | New York Times
- Challenges in Public Education: Book Bans, Teacher Shortages, and the Negative Effects of Miseducation Regarding Slavery | NAACP
- Inside Musk’s Aggressive Incursion Into the Federal Government | New York Times
- At 10 Years Old, I Found My Voice Fighting Book Bans in the US | Global Citizen
- Justice Dept. Fires Jan. 6 Prosecutors Amid Campaign of Retribution by Trump | New York Times
- Trump Officials Fire Jan. 6 Prosecutors and Plan Possible F.B.I. Purge | New York Times
- Trump Administration Fires Consumer Bureau Chief | New York Times
- Rick Magee (opinion): Book-banners are never the good guys | CTPost
- Filmmakers, leading voices discuss driving change in film at Sundance Film Festival | Daily Universe
- Why Musk Is So Focused on the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, America’s ‘Checkbook’ | New York Times
- Senate Confirms Russell Vought as Office of Management and Budget Director | New York Times
- Justice Dept.’s Weaponization Group Underscores Trump’s Quest for Retribution | New York Times
- White House Orders C.I.A. to Send Names as Worker Purge Expands | New York Times
- New Leaders of Justice Dept. Move to Assert Control Over Agency | New York Times
- Trump’s Power Grab Defies G.O.P. Orthodoxy on Local Control | New York Times
- Federal Election Commission Chair Says Trump Has Moved to Fire Her | New York Times
- The president’s education order: Trump wants to indoctrinate, too | Hill
- Title IX, School Choice, ‘Indoctrination’—How Trump Took on Schools in Week 2 | EducationWeek
- Why the Right Is Wrong About Critical Race Theory | Truthout
- Salt Lake City approves Utah’s first library union amidst controversy on Capitol Hill | ABC4
ALA News
- Savannah Lake Named a 2025 Core Emerging Leader
- RUSA Virtual Forum-Meeting Users’ Needs (EDIA)
- Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Leading for Creativity; Habits and Practices to Shape the Work Environment
- Kay Slater Named a 2025 Core Emerging Leader
- K-12 school librarians invited to apply for the annual $5,000 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award
- LaShonda Campbell Named a 2025 Core Emerging Leader
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