Intellectual Freedom News 6/14/2024
Highlights
- Access and Advocacy: PW Talks with Becky Calzada | Publishers Weekly
- Strengthening library ecosystems using One Voice | ALA
Censorship
- Banishing Captain Underpants: An investigation of the 3,400 books pulled in Iowa. | USA Today (IA)
- Petition to Dissolve Meridian Library District | ADA County (ID)
- Princeton cancels Pride | Dallas Voice (TX)
- Woodstock Library receives death, bomb threat following drag story hour | MSN (NY)
- ‘Challenges our authority’: School board in Florida bans book about book bans | USA Today (FL)
- Book about book bans banned by Florida school board | Guardian (FL)
- Newton’s New Art Center targeted by bomb threat | Boston Globe (MA)
- Iron River Public Library controversy grows | Northern News Now (WI)
- Carmel Clay School Board narrowly rejects ban on controversial LGBTQ+ book | WISHTV (IN)
- FBISD board tussles with library book policy | Fort Bend Star (TX)
- Drag story hour carries on in Seward despite a bomb threat and evacuation | Alaska Public Media (AK)
- Independence superintendent says Missouri audit ‘unlike anything that I’ve ever seen’ | Kansas City Star (MO)
- SJSD book challenges ignite passionate opinions | KQ2 (MO)
- Volusia School Board adopts new policies for next academic year. What you need to know. | Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
- Oregon library shot at with pellet gun after displaying pride flag, police say | NBC News (OR)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Facial-recognition technology poses threat to civil liberties, Ann Arbor declares | Michigan Live (MI)
- College Board Settles for $750,000 Penalty for Sharing and Selling Student Data in Violation of New York State’s Student Privacy Law | Goodwin (NY)
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Texas Library Must Reshelve Controversial Books, 5th Cir. Says | Bloomberg Law (TX)
- Texas library must reinstate books with ‘butts and farts,’ court says | Houston Chronicle (TX)
- Oklahoma Supreme Court rejects state education board’s authority over public school libraries | AP (OK)
- Independent School District No. 12 v. State 2024 OK 39 Case Number 121987 | Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma (OK)
- 3 Florida parents file lawsuit over book ban policies | Hill (FL)
- Federal appeals court weighs challenge to Iowa ban on certain books from schools | KCCI (IA)
- Justice Department Secures Agreement with Tennessee School District to Protect Students from Racial Harassment | Department of Justice (TN)
- The Internet and the First Amendment | New York Times
- Trump on LGBTQ Rights | ACLU
- School Can Ban ‘Two Genders’ Shirt, Appeals Court Says (1) | Bloomberg Law (MA)
- Do Anti-CRT Laws Violate the First Amendment? | Vanderbilt University
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Columbia Law Review article critical of Israel sparks battle between student editors and their board − highlighting fragility of academic freedom | Conversation
- East Brunswick school district hires outside law firm to investigate yearbook photo controversy | News12 (NJ)
- I was punished by Sacramento City Unified for letting my students publish ugly truths | Opinion | Sacramento Bee (CA)
Legislation
- Ohio Republican proposes bill that would defund libraries over materials government deems ‘harmful’ | Ohio Capital Journal (OH)
- Jailing librarians? Bill latest attempt to control thoughts of Ohio students, censor truth | Columbus Dispatch (OH)
- Bill on library book selection clears Assembly panel after four-hour hearing | News from the State (NJ)
- New Jersey Library Organizations Statement on A3446 | Insider NJ (NJ)
- Florida Considers Chaplains in Schools While Other Red States Reject the Move | 74 (FL)
State & Local Governance
- Alabama Library Association concerned about cost of implementing APLS code changes | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
- South Carolina cancels funding, college credit for AP African American Studies in high schools | PEN America (SC)
- State book regulation poses threat to freedom, advocates say | My Clinton News (SC)
- State’s top superintendent instructs school districts to ignore new Parents’ Rights initiative | Lynnwood Times (WA)
Social Media
- United States: Social media companies’ removal of abortion-related content may hinder access to accurate health information | Amnesty International
- New York passes legislation to ban ‘addictive’ social media algorithms for kids | NBC News (NY)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Supreme Court Will Not Review Legality of FCC’s Universal Service Fund | BroadbandBreakfast
- FCC Refuses to Stay Net Neutrality Rules, Setting Up Court Battle | BroadbandBreakfast
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Nearly 80% of Americans Are Concerned About the Spread of Disinformation — with Black People Among the Most Targeted | Free Press
- Presidential election a prime target for foreign disinformation, intelligence officials say | AP
International
- Social media censorship in Malaysia surges during PM Anwar’s first year in power: Report | Straits Times (Malaysia)
Around the Web
- ‘We Have Always Been Banned’: Gerber/Hart Exhibit Explores Banned Books, LGBTQ+ Resistance | Block Club Chicago
- How ‘anti-liberty’ ultra-conservatives ‘want to ban books to make parental decisions for you’ | MSNBC
- Book Bans in Political Context: Evidence from U.S. Public Schools | SSRN
- See You At The Library, Brave Books’s Storytime, Back in 2024 | Book Riot
- The neighbor at the center of the Justice Alito flag controversy speaks out | WUTC
- Library of Congress opens once-hidden items to the public | Hill
- What’s a book ban anyway? Depends on who you ask | NPR
- Authors and free speech advocates rally against book bans at Miami event | Prism
- The US has a rich drag history. Here’s why the art form will likely outlast attempts to restrict it | CNN
- Moms critical of policies, books related to LGBTQ+ students seek school board seats | Nevada Independent
- Indiana’s school censorship law threatens a small bookstore’s future | Advocate
- Protecting pages: The culture war on literature and fighting for literary freedom | Los Angeles Times
- With censorship on the rise, Providence librarian says Rhode Island needs to do more to protect libraries | The Public’s Radio
- City of Hoboken wins Library Champion Award | Hoboken
ALA News
- Madison Leigh Comer Awarded the 2024 Core Christian Larew Memorial Scholarship
- ALSC releases 2024 Summer Reading Lists and New Gardening & Flora List
- Ten AASL Members Receive Jewish American Heritage Month Collection Development Grants
- An updated toolkit for winning grants
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