Intellectual Freedom News

September 16, 2016

Office for Intellectual Freedom

• Banned Books Week 2016: Librarians stand up for intellectual freedom | ilovelibraries.org
• Save the date: Banned Books Week is September 25^th through October 1^st, 2016.
• Banned Books Week posters, buttons, mugs and more! @ the ALA Store
• Step 1: Celebrate Banned Books Week | Knowledge Quest
• Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy – First issue available to read online for FREE

Censorship

• VA; Eleanor and Park, Tyrell, Dope Sick; Three books to remain on Chesterfield school library shelves | Richmond Times-Dispatch
• TX; Mexican-American Heritage; Protest planned during controversial textbook meeting | CBS Austin. Activists, Educators Rally Over Controversial ‘Mexican-American Heritage’ Textbook | NBCDFW. HISD School Board hears from citizens condemning new textbook on Mexican-American heritage | CW39
• OR; banned books display; Bookstore to close after controversy | KOBI5

Academic Freedom

• Academic Freedom Dying Because Profs Too Scared to Use It: Report | Heatstreet
• Director at Cal State Long Beach quits over cancellation of racially-provocative show | Press Telegram. “We cannot ignore, however, that this occurrence also stands as critical juncture in the path of free speech on the campus of a public educational institution in perhaps our most liberal state,” wrote Speak Theater Arts co-founder Rafael Agustin. “The same act of censorship that today may seem to protect a community may be used next time as justification to silence a community in desperate need of a voice.”
• Newman cancels talk by Supreme Court justice after anti-abortion backlash | Wichita Eagle. “Newman University canceled a planned talk by Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier after people who oppose abortion launched an “unsettling” social media campaign opposing her visit, the university’s provost said. Beier had been invited by the campus student history club on Aug. 22 to answer questions Friday as part of the school’s Constitution Day program. She was scheduled to discuss topics such as how to get into law school, what it is like to be a judge and what role judges play in the judicial system, said Clark Schafer, a Newman spokesman. But opposition to her visit from people outside the campus grew so ominous in tone that Newman vice president and provost Kimberly Long said she worried about the safety of Beier and of students attending her talk. Newman, near Kellogg and Edwards, is a Catholic university.”

Privacy

• The Government Is Going To Have A Way Easier Time Hacking Your Computer After December 1 | BuzzFeed
• State education department names first “privacy officer” to safeguard student data | Staten Island Advance
• Yes, your browsing habits are being watched | IOL
• Chrome is helping kill HTTP | Tech Crunch
• Group Unveils a ‘Model Policy’ for Handling Student Data | Chronicle of Higher Education

Trigger Warnings

• Trigger warnings: A campus code of decency or an overused guise to censor? | Penn Live
• Arlington Heights schools forged ‘opt out’ policies long before current ‘safe spaces’ debate | Chicago Tribune
• Opinion: Do safe spaces and trigger warnings equal censorship? | Cuindependent
  
• Campuses Cautiously Train Freshmen Against Subtle Insults | The New York Times
• Free Speech on Campus | The New York Times
• ‘Trigger warnings’ and ‘safe spaces’ Where does VU stand on free speech? | Sun-Commercial
• University Of Chicago: ‘Trigger Warnings,’ Safe Spaces Violate Free Speech | DNA Info

Around the Web

• Editorial Cartoon: Steve Breen: The Different Viewpoint | The Virginian Pilot
• Beyond the First Amendment: You’re probably confused about free speech | Salon. “Lukianoff has written about an old concept called the “heckler’s veto,” which is when speech is silenced to prevent a violent response from others. “Once you set the precedent that speech will be censored if it offends people who respond violently to that speech, you guarantee that more people will respond violently on a wider variety of issues,” “For me, the biggest issue is the chill on diversity that is happening because of the feeling that it is okay to destroy people on social media.” 
• Steve Duin: Banning graphic novels | The Oregonian
• Parents Across America Group Outlines Ed-Tech ‘Threats’ | Education Week. “An influential parent-advocacy group that has vocally opposed high-stakes testing, the Common Core State Standards, and charter school expansion has its sights on a new target: education technology.”
• Political arrogance & lies surface in Roselle Park | NJToday. “Library officials appear to have conducted business in secret when they accepted a sculpture that depicts a religious symbol, which offends some secular residents who want to defend the separation of church and state. During a meeting of the municipal governing body, Regan claimed a quorum was present at a library board meeting where a vote was taken to accept the statute. Mayor Carl Hokanson donated the memorial, which depicts the silhouette of a kneeling soldier by a cross-shaped symbol, and the statue was placed in front of the public library.” 
• Controversy surrounds Roselle Park, New Jersey, mayor’s tribute to veterans | CBS News. Outside of Veterans Memorial Library in Roselle Park is a silhouette of a soldier kneeling at a cross. It’s become the center of controversy among residents including Gregory Storey, reports CBS New York. “It’s a very touching memorial, but the problem is there’s a cross in it. It singles out veterans of one religion, and in doing so ignored and disrespects veterans of all other religions, or no religion,” Storey said. The memorial — paid for by Mayor Carl Hokanson — was installed on July 29, by city workers and came as a surprise to the board that runs the library. Also see related: Did The Library Board Violate The Sunshine Law?
• The Uncomfortable Truth About Children’s Books | Mother Jones. “Some diversity advocates fear that the vitriol of the internet attacks will give pause to skittish writers and publishers. “For me, the biggest issue is the chill on diversity that is happening because of the feeling that it is okay to destroy people on social media,” 
• Reporter who documented guard dogs charged with trespassing at pipeline protest site | WDAZ. “This is an unacceptable violation of freedom of the press,” said Amy Goodman in a statement. “I was doing my job by covering pipeline guards unleashing dogs and pepper spray on Native American protesters.” http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/10/breaking_arrest_warrant_issued_for_amy
  
• Collier County School Board Voters Reject Censorship Agenda | CBLDF
• Outcry Prompts Facebook to Reverse Ban of Iconic Vietnam War Photo | EWeek
• The Internet May Be as Segregated as a City | The Atlantic. “Those with the most access and capital are more likely to control the culture of the internet and reproduce it in their interests,” said Safiya Noble, a professor of information studies at UCLA who has published research about examining the role of race in social media and search engines. “The web is a white space and its sensibility otherizes non-whites.”
• Kaepernick exercising protected speech | The Virginia Gazette. “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” That quote bears directly on the behavior of Colin Kaepernick. His actions are undoubtedly repugnant to the majority of Americans, especially those who see the flag, not as a symbol of oppression, but rather as a symbol of liberty and unity. But the 1st Amendment was not created to protect forms of expression that almost everyone agrees with or is pleased to hear. It is precisely the unpopular opinion that needs the constitutional guarantee of what has come to be called “free expression”.
• Can a petitioner be kicked out of a public library? | Valley News Live
• The ‘Lolita’ test: Lawsuit alleges censorship at the Minnesota Fringe Festival | City Pages
• Trustees criticize UK lawsuit against student newspaper | Lexington Herald Leader
• The Advocacy of Terrorism on the Internet: Freedom of Speech Issues and the Material Support Statutes | Congressional Research Service

ALA News

• Advocacy Boot Camp | State by state, Advocacy Boot Camp will help library communities prepare to advocate for libraries as fundamental building blocks to democracy. In this joint effort of ALA’s Office for Library Advocacy and the Office for Intellectual Freedom, we’ll explore some of the brutal facts about our current environment, celebrate our assets, and offer practical tips to reclaim a moral sanction for the work we do, and the support our communities deserve.
• ESSA and School Libraries | AASL, in collaboration with the ALA Office for Library Advocacy and the ALA Washington Office, is offering a complementary, comprehensive workshop on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to each AASL-affiliated state association. The workshops, presented by AASL leaders, will be customized to fit the needs of each state. Each workshop will include the most current information on developments at the Federal level, will connect ESSA language to the role of the school librarian and provide recommendations of opportunities at the state and local levels to ensure the ‘effective school library program’ language in ESSA.

---

Subscribe to future issues of Intellectual Freedom News, a free biweekly compilation of news delivered to your email 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

You can also find us at Facebook, Twitter, and online. Or email us at oif@ala.org
Recorded Webinars