Intellectual Freedom News 5/23/2025
Highlights
- ALA welcomes IMLS staff return and select grant reinstatements, cautiously optimistic about national case | ALA
- AASL President’s Program Brings Banned Together Author Ashley Hope Pérez to ALA Annual Conference | ALA
- ALA Welcomes Preliminary Injunction Restoring Some Grants, Staff of Federal Library Agency | ALA
- ALA raises alarm over termination of Digital Equity Act grants | ALA
Censorship
- Lawmakers in Both Parties Resist Trump’s Attempt to Seize Control of Their Library | New York Times
- Librarians, supporters rail against new regime at Alabama Public Library Service | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
- Katy ISD students call for repeal of book and gender policies following school board election | Houston Public Media (TX)
- School board member admits to filing book challenge, claims violation of privacy | Port City Daily (NC)
- Redlands school board censures member, backs book and flag policies | Redlands Daily Facts (CA)
- Librarians take on MAGA in California beach town | Politico (CA)
- Library controversy spills into Jackson County | Highlander (NC)
- Far-right PAC behind book bans and anti-LGBTQ+ policies stirs controversy with school board endorsements | York Dispatch (PA)
- PAC pledge for school board candidates ‘extreme and un-American’: Letter | York Dispatch (PA)
- Florida leaders send letter to Hillsborough Schools demanding certain books deemed inappropriate be removed | FOX13 (FL)
- Hillsborough School Board removes sexual content after attorney general’s pressure | Florida’s Voice (FL)
- ‘Book banning pastor’ kicked out of Francis Howell school board meeting | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
- NHCS superintendent revises committee’s ruling on book challenge, appeal still possible | Port City Daily (NC)
- Sumner County library board delays vote on polarizing policy changes | WKRN (TN)
- Pete Hegseth Has Banned 3 of My Books From the US Naval Academy | Truthout
- Some military parents say DEI purge hurts their kids’ schools. They’re suing. | Christian Science Monitor
- Lafayette Parish councilman wants Robert Judge removed from library board | Arcadiana Advocate (LA)
- More books pulled from Hillsborough classrooms after state pressure | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- No more Shakespeare? Staff warns West Shore School Board about proposed book policy | York Dispatch (PA)
- Schools in Columbia area removed this book over LGBTQ+ content. Now it’s back | State (SC)
- Most books pulled from Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in latest DEI turn | AP
- Debate intensifies over Jackson County Library’s split from regional system | WLOS (NC)
- Rye library calls off LGBTQ+ ‘Allyship’ event after backlash calling it ‘ideological’ | Seacost Online (NH)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Gen Z’s new side hustle: selling data | Axios
- Kash Patel scraps FBI unit monitoring surveillance rules compliance | Guardian
- Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Is Built on AI Surveillance and Disregard for Due Process | Freedom House
- Trump illegally fired surveillance watchdog agency’s Democrats, judge rules | Politico
- Wyden says senators weren’t warned about surveillance on phones | Hill
- Pro-AI, pro-pollution, pro-surveillance: what you should know about Trump’s budget | Verge
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Judge blocks Trump administration from attempting to dismantle Department of Education | ABC News
- State Constitutional Challenges to Laws Defining Sex | State court Report (MT)
- Top Sexual Assault Hotline Drops Resources After Trump Orders | New York Times
- ACLU of Maine gives legal updates, sounds alarm on civil liberties issues in virtual meeting | News Center Maine (ME)
- There’s a Darker Reason Trump Is Going After Those Law Firms | New York Times
- Trump Has His Law Firms Right Where He Wants Them | New York Times
- Educators in Minnesota Sue to Stop Book Bans | NEA Today (MN)
- Court again blocks key elements of Iowa’s school book ban | News from the States (IA)
- If Justice Dept. Can’t Prosecute Trump’s Foes, It Will ‘Shame’ Them, Official Says | New York Times
- US Supreme Court may broaden religious rights in looming rulings | Reuters
- Judge Finds U.S. Violated Court Order With Sudden Deportation Flight to Africa | New York Times
- Supreme Court deadlock leaves in place ruling blocking nation’s first religious charter school | CNN
- A school district singled out by Trump says it teaches ‘whole truth history’ | Hechinger Report (NC)
- Appeals court halts Temecula school district ban on critical race theory | Los Angeles Times (CA)
- After IMLS Ruling in R.I., Defendants Hasten to Comply but Ask for a Stay | Publishers Weekly
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at University of Tennessee file First Amendment suit | Knox News (TN)
- Trump Administration Escalates Harvard Feud With New Justice Dept. Investigation | New York Times
- REPORT: More than 600 college students and student groups punished or investigated for speech in five years | FIRE
- The Group Behind Project 2025 Has a Plan to Crush the Pro-Palestinian Movement | New York Times
- Texas Students Use Their Voice to Combat Student Paper Censorship | Dallas Observer (TX)
- Trump administration blocks Harvard University from enrolling foreign students | Middle East Eye
- 5 Questions on Open Expression in the Era of Trump | Inside Higher Ed
Legislation
- New Hampshire lawmakers OK school book ‘banning’ process | New Hampshire (NH)
- Bill derided by authors as enabling book banning heads to Ayotte’s desk | New Hampshire Bulletin (NH)
- Protecting from harm or censorship? Policing educational material in Texas | WBUR (TX)
- Sex ed, DEI, parent rights: New Indiana social-issue laws dictate what schools must and can’t do | Chalkbeat Indiana (IN)
- Oregon bill would allow youth to vote in school board elections | Oregon Capital Chronicle (OR)
- CT House approves bill placing limits on library e-book contracts | CT Mirror (CT)
- ‘Where do we draw the line?’: NC legislation targets public school libraries | WFDD (NC)
- Lawmakers vote to limit Ryan Walters’ ability to revoke teaching licenses as more suspensions loom | Oklahoman (OK)
- As culture wars flare at libraries, Nevada lawmaker seeks to move book ban decisions to courts | Nevada Independent (NV)
State & Local Governance
- Empowering librarians through shared governance (p.22-22) | Florida Libraries
- Good news, bad news: Tale of two library district elections in Idaho | Opinion | Idaho Statesman (ID)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
Social Media & AI
- Can crowdsourced fact-checking curb misinformation on social media? | MIT Technology Review
- How Artificial Intelligence Can Deepen Racial and Economic Inequities | ACLU
Journalism & Media
- The showdown over ’60’ | Status
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Energized by Kennedy, Texas ‘Mad Moms’ Are Chipping Away at Vaccine Mandates | New York Times
- Trump Administration Cancels Scores of Grants to Study Online Misinformation | New York Times
International
- China’s next-gen surveillance tools get AI boost to target Telegram and VPN users | SCMP (China)
- Indonesia Moves to Expand Censorship of LGBT Content | Global Press Journal (Indonesia)
- Indian professor arrested over social media post on military operation in Pakistan | Independent (India)
Around the Web
- Sarah Jessica Parker, Taye Diggs, more warn against threats to free speech, libraries | USA Today
- Under Trump, book bans have gone federal. Some readers are fighting back. | Boston Globe
- On Education, DeSantis’s Florida Paved the Way for Trump’s America | New York Times
- End Of An Era! Alondra Nelson Resigns From National Science Board and Library of Congress | Shine My Crown
- Official Pushed to Rewrite Intelligence So It Could Not Be ‘Used Against’ Trump | New York Times
- ‘Forever’: Judy Blume’s controversial novel gets a modern adaptation | Week
- F.B.I. Dismantles Elite Public Corruption Squad | New York Times
- Why libraries are the ‘cornerstone’ of democracy in the words of just-fired Librarian of Congress | GBH
- Lil Miss Hot Mess Wants Kids To Bring Out Their Best Selves And Have The Best Time | PEN America
- Macmillan CEO Jon Yaged: Censorship ‘Puts Us On a Path to Mediocrity’ | Publishers Weekly
- Free speech groups write an open letter to American institutions to battle Trump’s “multi-front assault” | Nieman Lab
- Top Safety Tips for Those Defending the Freedom to Read | PEN America
- Censoring books about race | Lincoln Times-News
- Sunday Edition: Seed Money; On Book Bans and Parents’ Rights | WHQR
- Opinion: Locked out of the library: How book bans deprive young Americans | Los Angeles Times
- An election looms in a Maine school district divided over transgender rights | Bangor Daily News
- Column: Academic freedom means rejecting book bans | Daily Press
- Lil Miss Hot Mess: the queen who wouldn’t stop reading | 48 Hills
- Attacks on ‘Political’ Graduation Speakers Are Craven Attacks on Intellectual Freedom | Common Dreams
- Is Trump trying to take over Congress? | Week
- City Council panel rejects ex-Duval School Board chair Elizabeth Andersen for library board | Florida Times-Union
- Sarah Jessica Parker on Book Bans: “I am enraged” | School Library Journal
- The Website Where Lawyers Mock ‘Yellow-Bellied’ Firms Bowing to Trump | New York Times
- The military: Hegseth’s escalating culture war | Week
- Eisenhower warned us against embracing censorship | GUEST COMMENTARY | Baltimore Sun
- Firewall For Freedom: States Must Safeguard Our Rights | ACLU
ALA News
- New from ACRL – “Legislative Advocacy and Public Policy Work for Academic and Research Library Workers: Perspectives and Strategies”
- Core Webinar – Visualizing Library Impact
- Scotts Ridge Middle School named National School Library of the Year
- Carnegie Whitney Grant 2025 award winners
- EBSCO Conference Sponsorship Winners Announced
- The Digital Accessibility Handbook for Libraries
Subscribe to future issues of Intellectual Freedom News, a free weekly compilation of news delivered to your inbox by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, including
- current book challenges in libraries and schools
- articles about privacy, internet filtering and censorship
- ALA activities, conferences and institutes, products, online learning opportunities, awards and grants, international exchanges, and more
- how to get involved and make the most of what ALA offers