Intellectual Freedom News 6/3/2022
Highlights
- Library, author, bookseller groups condemn legal action attempting to censor books in Virginia | American Library Association
Censorship
- Freedom to Read Advocates Sound Alarm as Obscenity Lawsuit Advances in Virginia | Publishers Weekly
- State orders Orange schools to reveal who bought ‘Gender Queer’ book for libraries | Orlando Sentinel
- School board candidate checks out many LGBT books from library so others can’t see them | Frederick (MD) News-Post
- Book banning in the US: These are the authors of color who censors are trying to silence | CNN
- Books that are part of sexual violence curriculum for young students worry some Topsham-area parents | Times Record (ME)
- Central Bucks School District tweaks controversial book policy. ACLU says it’s still ‘legally problematic’ | Bucks County Courier Times (PA)
- Idaho Education Association upset with Nampa school board decision to ban 22 books | KTVB
- Virginia Beach, Chesapeake school divisions remove ‘Gender Queer’ from school libraries | 13 News Now (VA)
- ImagineIF trustees spar over policies aimed at preventing censorship | Flathead Beacon (MT)
- The Wisconsin GOP’s search for ‘inappropriate’ books in school districts | Wisconsin Examiner
- St. Johns County schools committee recommends new restrictions for controversial library books | News4Jax
- Hillsdale to consider banning Harry Potter as library wars hit Michigan | Bridge Michigan
- At Hillsdale library, resignations and alarms about politics, pedophilia | Bridge Michigan
- What the Florida CRT controversy means for the future of textbooks | Future Ed
- Park County School District #6’s Educational Resource Complaint Committee will hear the case to remove two “controversial” books from the Cody High School Library | Big Horn Radio Network
- How a Texas student packed school board meetings to challenge book bans | NBC News
- Pride, Black History Month book displays among those no longer allowed at Lafayette public libraries | Acadiana Advocate (LA)
- Michigan prisons ban Spanish and Swahili dictionaries to prevent inmate disruptions | NPR
- ‘Forever is a long time’ Nampa school board member Jeff Kirkman discusses recent 22 book removal | KTVB7 (ID)
- Enid LGBTQ+ group planning Pride library exhibit after board changes policy | Enid News and Eagle
- New Pride book exhibit goes up at Enid library, first under new policy rules | Enid News and Eagle
- Cody School District Says No To Banning “The Color Purple” | Cowboy State Daily (WY)
- Cody High School Library Retains Controversial Books | Big Horn Radio Network
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- “How Dare They Peep into My Private Life? Children’s Rights Violations by Governments that Endorsed Online Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic | Human Rights Watch
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Rights group sues over US denying Afghans humanitarian entry | AP
- ODNI report on best practices to protect privacy, civil liberties, and civil rights of Americans of Chinese descent in the conduct of U.S. intelligence activities | Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- Abortion rights groups sue to stop Florida’s 15-week ban | Politico
- Amid Supreme Court decision, suburban boards wrestle with whether to fly pride flag | Daily Herald (IL)
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- University system ends era of free-speech zones on Georgia’s college campuses | Yahoo! News
- Collin College protests Loyola Chicago professor’s speech | Inside Higher Ed
- Diversity statements are still in legal peril | Chronicle of Higher Education
- How We Brought Ethnic Studies to My High School | The Nation
Legislation
- Arizona House Republicans advance bill addressing critical race theory in public schools | Tucson Sentinel
- SPLC files amicus brief in suit against Florida’s Stop WOKE Act | Southern Poverty Law Center
- Ohio GOP introduces legislation banning critical race theory in schools | Columbus Underground
- SC Senate lawmakers, LGBTQ advocates react to ‘controversial’ budget amendments | WCIV
- Teachers rally against new law limiting classroom lessons as state tries to dismiss lawsuit | Concord Monitor (NH)
Journalism & Media
- Student journalists say they’re fighting for First Amendment rights in a central Florida school | WUFT
Social Media
- Supreme Court blocks Texas law on social media ‘censorship’ | Politico
- The Supreme Court vs. social media | New York Times
- Want to regulate social media? The First Amendment may stand in the way | Washington Post
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- Americans, like Swedes, need help telling fact from fiction | Foreign Policy
- Fake news story about Oak Park & River Forest High School goes viral | Crain’s Chicago Business
- Anatomy of a fake | Can We Still Govern? (Oak Park)
International News
- Agatha Christie book banned by Upper Canada school board | Toronto Sun
- Racial profiling trial begins into power of Quebec police to make random car stops | Globe and Mail
- Turkey’s disinformation law will strike further blow to media freedom | Balkan Insight
- Bahrain working on comprehensive set of laws to combat hate speech | Zawya
- Ramstein cancels library’s ‘drag queen storytime’ for Pride Month following criticism | Military.com
- Putin’s war at home: Censorship and disinformation | European Council on Foreign Relations
Around the Web
- A Parental Rights Group Threatened To Ban My Book The Same Day As The Texas School Shooting | Yahoo News
- Gender identity lessons, banned in some schools, are rising in others | Washington Post
- Pushing us back into the closet: Banned books edition | RVA Magazine
- The group banning LGBT books wants to replace them with anti-gay propaganda | Vice
- Racist and violent ideas jump from web’s fringes to mainstream sites | New York Times
- Sheriff Ivey to Belford: Deputies won’t enforce Brevard school board speaking policies | Florida Today
- NPL ‘banned books’ library card becomes permanent thanks to local, national success | WSMV (TN)
- Amazon confirms it removed Harvey Weinstein autobiography that he likely didn’t write | Los Angeles Times
- Penguin Random House taps Margaret Atwood to take a stand against book burning | PR Week
- Far-right organization launches online ‘heat map’ singling out some Missouri schools as ‘hot spots’ of ‘woke’ activity | Business Insider
- Facing angry parents? Keep cool when adults demand book removal | School Library Journal
- Wisconsin Gov. Evers says GOP will ban books if he loses | El Paso Inc.
- Now under scrutiny, social-emotional learning once hoped to stem school violence | WINK (FL)
- Former private school teacher says GSA faced censorship from school administration | Georgia Voice
- Brevard teacher’s ‘banned book’ drive raises over $5,000, angers Moms for Liberty | Florida Today
- Guru Donuts holding banned books reading following Nampa School Board decision | KTVB7 (ID)
- How the Proud Boys gripped the Miami-Dade Republican party | New York Times
- Amazon employees protest the sale of books they say are anti-trans | Washington Post
- 11 Parents on How They Want Kids to Learn About History, Racism and Gender | New York Times
- Searching for Middle Ground: Alternatives to Book Censorship | Good E-Reader
- Medford School District Book Removal Amounts to Censorship, Says State Library Association | e-greenara (OR)
ALA News
- EBSCO Information Services and the American Library Association award ten librarians with scholarships to attend ALA Annual Conference
- ALA distributes $1.55 million in COVID emergency relief to 77 U.S. libraries
- Freedom to Read Foundation 2022 Election Results
eLearning
- Summer Online Courses with ALSC
- Women in Librarianship and Wellness webinar
- Core Webinar: Core New Members Interest Group Cover Letter Workshop
- More eLearning opportunites
Publishing
Awards & Grants
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