Censorship in Our Schools and Libraries

Censorship News
NCAC's newsletter, published four times a year, covers current book censorship controversies, threats to the free flow of information, obscenity laws, creationism, attacks on school textbooks, and more. Available in print form from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $30 per year. Back issues are an excellent resource for research; a full set, beginning with Issue 1 from March 1975, is available for $30.

The Cyber-Library: Legal and Policy Issues Facing Public Libraries in the High-Tech Era
Will the Internet become an effective force for promoting the free flow of information and ideas, or an excuse for restricting it? How can the library secure its role as the facilitator and defender of free thought and inquiry? To learn more about these and other issues click here. The Cyber-Library is also available in print form from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $7.50 (includes shipping & handling).

Freedom Is Not A Dirty Word
NCAC's one-page flyer is an excellent educational tool as a handout at meetings, booths, and demonstrations. It uses a few examples to illustrate how censorship affects us all. Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship in packs of 200 for $20 (includes postage & handling).

Meese Commission Exposed
In this 32-page publication, well-known writers, feminists, actors, psychologists, and lawyers, including Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Betty Friedan, and Colleen Dewhurst, address the biases and abuses of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. Excellent general arguments against censorship of so-called "obscenity" and "pornography." Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $6 (includes postage & handling).

Public Education, Democracy, Free Speech: The Ideas That Define And Unite Us
This new booklet, produced in collaboration with the National Education Association, stresses the link between public education and the constitutional right to free speech and inquiry; neither can survive or flourish without the other. It explores the issues that public schools face in teaching basic skills and preparing students for citizenship. And it concludes that parents, teachers, students, and other members of the community must work together to address common concerns and increase support for public education, because public education available to all is the fundamental institution that has helped our democracy and its people to thrive. Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $2.50 (includes shipping & handling).

The Sex Panic
The report of the conference of NCAC's Working Group on Women, Censorship, and "Pornography." The Working Group, made up of feminist scholars, writers, artists, critics, intellectuals, activists, and lawyers, was formulated to speak out for the many feminists who are saying they don't want, don't need, and won't accept censorship. Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $5 (includes shipping & handling).

Too Good To Miss
NCAC reprints of viewpoints and policies opposing censorship include:

• Censored, from a February 1995 Parenting magazine article, on challenges against six banned children's books, as well as responses from the authors
• Death by Primetime, by writer Barbara Hall, on TV violence
• Feminism, by feminist Betty Friedan, on the danger of the censorship of "pornography" to women
• Feminist Fundamentalism—Women Against Images, by anthropologist Carole S. Vance, on the censorship of an art exhibit at the University of Michigan
• Free Speech Guidelines, adopted by Harvard Law School for student organizations sponsoring speakers and for students considering protests against speakers
• Let Them Talk, a critique of speech restrictions, by Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
• Wrongheaded Pornography Campaign, by St. Paul School of Theology Christian ethics professor John M. Swomley, Jr., on "how Christians should not conduct a campaign
  Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $1 each, three for $2.50

  25 Years: Defending Freedom of Thought, Inquiry and Expression
  NCAC’s 25th Anniversary brochure, highlighting significant censorship battles. Available from the National Coalition Against Censorship for $2.50 (includes shipping & handling).

  Also available:
  NCAC's new video, Tell It Like It Is! For more information, click here.
  Shooting the Messenger: Why Censorship Won't Stop Violence, by Judith Levine.