Education Commons^™

Book Challenges Popping Up All Over: What Do School Principals Need To Know?, Samantha Laine Hull, Sue Kimmel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This chapter provides practical advice and reasons for school leaders to support students' intellectual freedom through their support of school libraries and school librarians. The chapter begins with a short but critical literature review that includes case law on the topic of censorship in schools. The concerns of teachers and librarians from a recent study are summarized and help build the foundation for practical and ready to use advice for any school leaders to uphold the intellectual freedom of all students.

Keeping The Light On: Academic Librarians & Burnout (Conference Presentation), Jason D. Phillips, Laura Pitts, Jessica Riedmueller, Joanna Warren

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

There is substantial research about sources of burnout among academic librarians; however, very little addresses the impact of the local environment. Responding to regional and institutional shifts while still trying to uphold the values of librarianship such as providing confidential and free access to information can quickly lead to mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion, classic symptoms of burnout. A panel discussion was hosted at the Arkansas Library Association (ArLA) / Southeast Library Association (SELA) Joint Conference, on Saturday, October 14, 2023. Academic librarians from different Southern states discussed their local environments, their libraries’ responses to recent events, and their strategies …

Censorship In Schools: Reading's Position In The Landscape Of Policy Creation, Rachel Beckham

Honors Theses

Censorship is not new to current issues. It has affected authors and speakers for centuries, but it is especially prevalent today, especially in schools. Teachers and librarians are often challenged for the materials they choose to provide to students. Concerned parents object to the materials for containing sexual content, profanity, or LGBTQ+ characters or themes. This study aims to answer the question, “What role, if any, do books containing controversial topics serve in the literature classrooms of today’s students?” To answer this question, the author of this study conducted a literary analysis on the top three most banned books of …

Reconciling Self-Censorship: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of University Staff And Administrators, Leigh C. Morales

Doctoral Dissertations

In addition to a global pandemic, the past three years have been marked by racial, social, and political unrest. These circumstances add meaningful context to examine and better understand factors that undermine free expression and contribute to self-censorship among university staff and administrators. To date, few studies have holistically explored the unique experiences of university staff and administrators with self-censorship and how this phenomenon affects their experience on college and university campuses. Understanding why staff and administrators choose to self-censor may allow for a deeper discussion about speech climate and the degree to which colleges and universities implement and uphold …

Forbidden Forests: Negotiating Censorship In Children's And Young Adult Literature During A New Era Of Conservatism In 2022 And Beyond, Avila Hendricks

Title III Professional Development Reports

Harambee! In Swahili, “Harambee” means “All pull together!” The impetus for this report grew out of a unifying discussion with other 2022 Children's Literature Association (ChLA) conference attendees.These discussions led to the decision to “pull together” against the rise of “extreme” conservatism and the increase of banned books across the United States.

This report offers insight into some of the issues surrounding the increase in censorship in children's and young adult literature. It includes a brief review of the recently scrutinized book, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, and it concludes with some recommendations for negotiating censorship in conservative communities.

Today’S Fake News Is Tomorrow’S Fake History: How Us History Textbooks Mirror Corporate News Media Narratives, Nolan Higdon, Mickey Huff, Jen Lyons

Secrecy and Society

The main thrust of this study is to assess how the systematic biases found in mass media journalism affect the writing of history textbooks. There has been little attention paid to how the dissemination of select news information regarding the recent past, particularly from the 1990s through the War on Terror, influences the ways in which US history is taught in schools. This study employs a critical-historical lens with a media ecology framework to compare Project Censored’s annual list of censored and under-reported stories to the leading and most adopted high school and college US history textbooks. The findings reveal …

Censorship Concerns In College Media: A Multiple Case Study Analysis On The Silencing Of Student Journalists, Haley Nicole Matlock

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this qualitative study was to conduct a multiple case study that provides an analysis of censorship concerns at campus newspapers affiliated with public, four-year universities. Eighteen individuals from seven institutions participated in interviews. Interviewees consisted of former and current student journalists and advisers who worked at university publications where allegations of censorship have occurred within the last decade. The Student Press Law Center routinely investigates claims of censorship and provides pro bono legal counsel to student journalists (Zagier, 2011). While courts commonly sided with students in disagreements regarding free speech, Hazelwood v Kuhlmeier (1988) scaled back freedoms …

Ua1f Kern Alexander Censorship Vertical File, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Records

Digitized vertical file materials regarding WKU President Kern Alexander's interactions with the College Heights Herald.

College Of Liberal Arts And Sciences_Covid-19 Course Content, Kristin Vekasi, Frederic Rondeau, Marcella Sorg, Derek Michaud, Ayesha Miller, Kirsten Jacobson, Lillian Herakova, Mark Brewer

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

List of COVID-19 related course content in the University of Maine's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences during the 2020 Spring Semester. Includes descriptions from:

• Kristin Vekasi, Associate Professor, Political Science for POS 349: Politics of Media and Censorship;
• Frederic Rondeau, Associate Professor, Modern Languages and Classics for Introduction to French Classics Novels of the XX-XXI century;
• Marcella Sorg (Research Professor, Department of Anthropology, Climate Change Institute, and Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center for ANT 260: Forensic Anthropology;
• Derek Michaud, Lecturer, Philosophy; Coordinator of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies for PHI 105: Introduction to Religious Studies and PHI 100: Contemporary …

Abolish Censorship And Adopt Critical Media Literacy: A Proactive Approach To Media And Youth In The Middle East, Abeer Alnajjar

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This paper challenges the dominant patronizing approach to youth and media in the Middle East and argues that the calls for censorship of youth media exposure are obsolete and counterproductive. It argues that although censorship advocates have a legitimate concern over media risks, their approaches are ineffective, short-lived and alienating, disregarding the potential that media hold for young people. The author believes that elites in MENA should shift their focus to empower youth to use media to learn; to voice their worldviews and experiences; and to work for the betterment of themselves and their societies. The paper recommends two strategies:1) …

Obstacles To Excellence: Academic Freedom And China's Quest For World-Class Universities, Chelsea Blackburn Cohen

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

China’s government has made significant investments to develop universities that already compete with the world’s best. Their progress has captured global attention over the years, with universities around the world forging partnerships with institutions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and scholars and students around the world flocking to study, teach, and research in the country. But while China continues to stoke its ambitions for developing more world-class universities, respect for academic freedom and other human rights essential to quality higher education lags behind, leaving scholars and students at risk, and the country’s goals in balance.

With the recent …

The Practice Of Secularism In Religious Cencorship In Turkish Film (1939-1990), Aditama Aditama, Nadira Bella Rachmanti, Siti Rohmah Soekarba

International Review of Humanities Studies

This paper analyzes a film as one of the media with the ability to convey certain messages to the public. Films can reflect the social and cultural conditions of society, thereby they can be used to spread the current ideas, views, and ideologies of a country. Films in Turkey are part of a culture that has developed rapidly and has become an entertainment for the people. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk reformed and turned Turkey into a new country with the ideology of secularism, controlling religious institutions and expressions. This journal article aims to describe the implementation of Turkish secular ideology in …

Building And Maintaining Lgbtq+ Picture Book Collections, Alissa Droog, Danielle Bettridge, Alyssa R. Martin, Ashleigh Yates-Mackay

FIMS Publications

The LGBTQ+ community has had to continuously fight for their rights, including their right to be represented in the library. This toolkit provides instruction on how to develop and manage a library collection of LGBTQ+ children’s picture books. It is split into four sections that include a guide to evaluating materials, recommended picture books, a guide to fighting censorship, and a list of recommended resources.

Questioning The Dogma Of Banned Books Week, Elliott Kuecker

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This article examines the dogmatic celebration of Banned Books Week in libraries in the United States through Foucault's notion of the speaker's benefit and the repressive hypothesis. Given that the books featured during Banned Books Week are not legally banned, but actually widely available, it appears this celebration does more for the identity of the field of librarianship than it does to fight censorship.

We’Ve Come A Long Way (Baby)! Or Have We? Evolving Intellectual Freedom Issues In The Us And Florida, L. Bryan Cooper, A.D. Beman-Cavallaro

Works of the FIU Libraries

This paper analyzes a shifting landscape of intellectual freedom (IF) in and outside Florida for children, adolescents, teens and adults. National ideals stand in tension with local and state developments, as new threats are visible in historical, legal, and technological context. Examples include doctrinal shifts, legislative bills, electronic surveillance and recent attempts to censor books, classroom texts, and reading lists.

Privacy rights for minors in Florida are increasingly unstable. New assertions of parental rights are part of a larger conservative animus. Proponents of IF can identify a lessening of ideals and standards that began after doctrinal fruition in the 1960s …

Student Censorship In The Social Work Classrooms, Lisa Kozlowski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Through the evolution of the field of social work, a divide in its ideologies has emerged and certain political and ideological groups such as the religious and conservatives have become underrepresented. As a result, over the years the liberal philosophies have emerged as the dominant group. This has led to a decrease in diversity within the field. Recognition of biases in the field of social work is difficult. Through a qualitative analysis method, this study was meant to explore if social work students feel they are free to share openly in the classroom, and if they are accepting of all …

Looking For A Cure For Educationl Exhaustion, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

Whoa, folks! An entire month got away from me there. Ever had that happen to you? If you're a teacher I'm guessing it probably has. I wish I could say that there was a good reason I hadn't written anything at all on this blog in the past few weeks, but the sad truth is that I haven't really been any busier than usual. Every semester becomes a slog at some point—that right there might be a topic for another post soon; maybe I could write two in a month!—but that hasn't stopped me before. I had some extra responsibilities …

Fouling The First Amendment: Why Colleges Can't, And Shouldn't, Control Student Athletes' Speech On Social Media, Frank D. Lomonte

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Muting The Masses: Effects Of The Spiral Of Silence In The College Newsroom, Blaire Ritter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper explores whether or not Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory, the spiral of silence, is an accurate theoretical lens to examine the issues of censorship and conflict in the student broadcast newsroom. Using data collected from classroom observations and student interviews, levels of involuntary and voluntary censorship and editorial control were examined to see if they played a role in classroom dynamic and editorial decisions. Each instance was looked at to see if it fit five criteria; a threat of isolation by peers or community, a fear of this threat, a willingness to speak out by the majority, a quasi-statistical sense …

Ua1f Wku Archives Vertical File - College Heights Herald, 1961-2007, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Records

Digitized vertical file materials regarding the College Heights Herald.

Review Of Censorship And The School Library Media Center, Kathyanne W. Dobda

Michael Schwartz Library Publications

This article is a book review of Censorship and the School Library Media Center by Nancy Kravitz.

Patron Objections To Library Materials: A Survey Of Christian College Libraries Part Ii, Craighton Hippenhammer

Faculty Scholarship – Library Science

A survey of conservative Christian college libraries in the United States and Canada was taken early in 1993 to determine how their librarians handle patron objections to their collections. Surveyed were their policies and procedures, the nature of their support for the Library Bill of Rights, the nature of challenges (84 percent reported students were the objectors), selection of controversial materials, intellectual freedom definitions and level of librarian education. The survey is compared to four other surveys covering academic libraries, and/or public libraries. Included is a sample reconsideration policy and a sample reconsideration form. Having such a policy is shown …

Untruth In The Classroom, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Although historical revision is a valid practice, Holocaust revisionism is based on deliberate fabrications of the historical record and does not reinterpret a past event. The author believes that Holocaust revisionist materials should not be ignored by teachers, but should be used in classrooms as primary source material on anti-Semitism and intolerance.

Patron Objections To Library Materials: A Survey Of Christian College Libraries Part I, Craighton Hippenhammer

Faculty Scholarship – Library Science

A survey of conservative Christian college libraries in the United States and Canada was taken early in 1993 to determine how their librarians handle patron objections to their collections. Surveyed were their policies and procedures, the nature of their support for the Library Bill of Rights, the nature of challenges (84 percent reported students were the objectors), selection of controversial materials, intellectual freedom definitions and level of librarian education. Having a reconsideration policy is shown to be crucial for addressing censorship attempts.