Intellectual Freedom News 6/6/2025
Highlights
- 2025 Annual Conference Preview | American Libraries
- Service Project at General Synod 35 encourages churches to build ‘banned book’ libraries | United Church of Christ
- Honoring Spirits: Recognizing wisdom, hope, and service | American Libraries
- Strength in Community: Librarians and Authors Head to ALA Annual in Philadelphia | School Library Journal
- ALA awards $10,000 grants to 16 libraries to build capacity to serve New Americans (immigrants and refugees) | ALA
- ALA Announces 2025 Recipients of Celebrated Library Intellectual Freedom Awards | ALA
Censorship
- Library board member calls for obscenity legislation targeting children’s books | Gillette News Record (WY)
- Federal court decision supports APLS Board efforts to remove controversial books from public libraries | Alabama Daily News (AL)
- The Kennedy Center: A new battleground in the culture war over drag | Georgetown Voice
- Warren County Faces Critical Vote on 10-Year For-Profit Library Contract: What’s at Stake | Royal Examiner (VA)
- Ethics complaint filed against Lafayette library board member Robert Judge | Arcadiana Advocate (LA)
- Drag Story Time At Beverly Library Will Go On After Pushback: ‘Hate Has No Place Here’ | Block Club Chicago (IL)
- Crawford County librarian who left amid censorship furor alleges separation agreement violation, sues | Arkansas Times (AR)
- Hillsborough school board grills superintendent on book removals | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- Hillsborough County superintendent ordered to meet with state officials over handling of removing library books | WFLA (FL)
- Over 600 books removed from Hillsborough County Public Schools libraries in Florida | NCAC (FL)
- Under fire from state, Hillsborough’s Ayres pledges to pull more books | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- Rutherford library board rescinds decision to remove books on transgender issues | Daily News Journal (TN)
- Parental Guidance: A new front emerges in battle between far-right, LGBTQ+ themed books | Michigan Advance (MI)
- Council renews library contract after heated debate over children’s book | Payson Roundup (AZ)
- Wake rejects book challenge. Why ‘The Kite Runner’ will continue to be read. | News Observer (NC)
- Maine libraries bolster LGBTQ+ literature amid rising censorship concerns | News Center Maine (ME)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans | New York Times
- A dystopian surveillance fear has become reality in Texas | Guardian
- Black Workers Are Most Likely To Be Targeted By Workplace Surveillance, New Report Reveals | All Work
- The EU’s “Encryption Roadmap” Makes Everyone Less Safe | EFF
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Lawsuit challenging Kentucky’s abortion laws dismissed, leaving near-total ban in place | WLKY (KY)
- Rubio Says Lack of Social-Media Profile Could Prompt Visa Denial | Bloomberg
- A Trump Official Threatens to Sue California Schools Over Trans Athletes | New York Times (CA)
- Civil liberties groups set to sue Texas over bill requiring Ten Commandments display in public schools | Texas Public Radio (TX)
- Border Officials Told Not to Attend Events Tied to Diversity in Law Enforcement | New York Times
- How the Supreme Court could still reshape religious liberty with decisions in two cases | USA Today
- DHS Investigation Confirms Tent Facilities Used During President Trump’s First Term Were Unsafe | ACLU
- ‘We Don’t Want Them’: Trump Signs Travel Ban on Citizens From 12 Countries | New York Times
- Parents fight dismissal of lawsuit on Florida’s book ban policies | Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
- Groups Sue Trump Administration Over Unlawful Detention of Immigrants at Guantánamo Bay | ACLU
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- How universities die | Boston Globe
- Harvard wins legal reprieve to keep international students amid White House pressure | WTOV (MA)
- A Stephen Miller Staffer and Tough Talk: Inside Trump’s Latest Attack on Harvard | New York Times (MA)
- Court halts Indiana University’s “Expressive Activity” policy over First Amendment complaint | ACLU (IN)
- Pa. Cyber Charter censors student journalists for reporting critically about school | Penn Live (PA)
- Academic Freedom Under Fire as States Advance Higher Ed Curriculum Laws | Insight into Academia
- Strategic silencing: how censorship is reshaping scholarly discourse | Times Higher Education
- Regents consider new policy barring DEI, CRT course requirements at universities | Gazette (IA)
Legislation
- Delaware House passes Freedom to Read Act after consideration of several Republican amendments | Bay to Bay News (DE)
- Texas’ DEI ban on public schools heads back to lawmakers for one last test | San Antonio Current (TX)
- SENATE BILL 12: Corpus Christi LGBTQ+ advocates push back on newly passed ‘Parental Rights’ law | KRIS (TX)
- Texas is poised to become the latest GOP state to exert control over university curriculum | WTOP (TX)
- Vulgar phrase read by CT lawmaker sparks decorum debate in Capitol | CTPost (CT)
Social Media & AI
- Is a U.S. social media policy built around just one person? | Politico
- Federal judge blocks enforcement of law barring kids from social media | Florida Phoenix (FL)
Journalism & Media
- PBS sues Trump administration over executive order targeting public broadcasting | ABC News
- The Washington Post Plans an Influx of Outside Opinion Writers | New York Times
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- White House Health Report Included Fake Citations | New York Times
- OpenAI takes down covert operations tied to China and other countries | NPR
- The White House Gutted Science Funding. Now It Wants to ‘Correct’ Research. | New York Times
International
- Christian conservative group Action4Canada lobbied for review of books in Alberta schools | Edmonton Journal (Canada)
- Conservative activists gave Alberta government list of ‘inappropriate’ books in school libraries | St. Albert Gazette (Canada)
- Censorship is making a comeback just about everywhere | Buenos Aires Times
- Books about June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown grow scarce in Hong Kong | SCMP (Hong Kong)
- Academic freedom shrinking in a climate of fear | Tribune (India)
Around the Web
- Trump Officials Intensify Attacks on Judges as Court Losses Mount | New York Times
- It’s called the Library of Congress. But Trump claims it’s his. | Washington Post
- Trump Says He Fired Director of National Portrait Gallery, Citing D.E.I. | New York Times
- Commentary: Cruel schools play gender-affirming name game | Orlando Sentinel
- Trump Nominates a Former Far-Right Podcast Host to Head an Ethics Watchdog | New York Times
- Brooklyn Library Becomes Haven For Banned Books Written By Black Women | Shine My Crown
- Ken Jennings: Trivia and ‘Jeopardy!’ Could Save Our Republic | New York Times
- Trump sparks Europe’s ‘new Enlightenment’ | Politico
- Drag artists are getting attacked. This safety handbook aims to help | KGOU
- Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death | New York Times
- Doctor Zhivago: The banned book the CIA smuggled across the Iron Curtain | Cherwell
- Sarah Jessica Parker details her fears of book-banning, likens libraries to ‘sanctuaries of possibility’ | CTV News
- Our Regression on Gender Is a Tragedy, Not Just a Political Problem | New York Times
- Legislative book banning creates educational deserts for Texas students | San Antonio Express-News
- From Scopes ‘monkey trial’ to Maga madness: a century of anti-intellectualism | Morning Star
- Wake Schools vote ‘yes’ for grant on banned books programming despite some protests | WUNC
- Fifth Circuit: Fuck It, The Censors Can Control Public Libraries | TechDirt
- Book bans, policy change, and where we go next | WXXI
- A Punk Survival Guide for Gen Z | New York Times
- Knoxville bookstore hosting ‘Banned Book Club’ after more than 100 books removed from Knox Co. Schools’ shelves | WBIR
- Denouncing Antisemitism, Trump Also Fans Its Flames | New York Times
- Despite election victory, the St. Tammany library remains politically controversial | NOLA
- Legislature’s ‘book police’ want Wyoming libraries to pay fines | WyoFile
- Florida’s “Parental Rights” Laws May Serve as a Dangerous Blueprint for Extreme Censorship in Schools Nationwide | PEN America
- U.S. May Strip Harvey Milk’s Name From Navy Vessel | New York Times
- Books are flying off shelves… and disappearing: Ban attempts are an increasing form of bigotry | Cambridge Day
- ‘Banned book’ drive at Rock Spring church collects 84 titles | ARL Now
- ‘An issue of democracy’: Activists against book bans hold panel discussion in Rochester | Rochester First
- Don’t let libraries become political tools | Central WI News
- Trump-era cuts, truth bans fuel growing racial divide in U.S. education | Pittsburgh Courier
ALA News
- AASL Research Paper Awards Announced
- Thirty AASL Members Awarded Bound to Stay Bound Grants to Attend First 2025 AASL National Conference
- Stone Bridge High School Awarded ALA’s 2025 Jaffarian Award for Historical Artifact Footlocker Program
- Explore invention and innovation with easily sharable, classroom-ready materials from the Library of Congress
- North Miami Public Library awarded 2025 Baker & Taylor Summer Reading Program Grant
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