A parent in Marshfield, Wisconsin has filed a challenge to Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, saying that high school students “deserve better” than a book he describes as “full of foul language, and explicit and disturbing materials.” In accordance…
Author: Maren Williams
Turkish Publisher Closes Satirical Magazine Over Moses Cartoon
The publisher of the Turkish satirical magazine Gırgır abruptly shut down the publication and laid off all its staff last week in response to a cartoon that irreverently depicted Moses and was deemed offensive to both Jews and Muslims. The…
Parent Group Demands Changes or Cancellation for Illinois High School’s Civil Rights Seminar Day
Some parents in the northern suburbs of Chicago are complaining that an innovative all-day seminar on civil rights at New Trier High School will be “biased, unbalanced, [and] divisive.” Award-winning authors Andrew Aydin and Colson Whitehead are scheduled to speak…
Free Speech Arguments Prevail in Tobinick v. Novella
Free speech prevailed in a case alleging that any speech published on a website with advertising should be treated as “commercial speech,” a category afforded less First Amendment protection. CBLDF and other members of the Media Coalition filed an amicus…
Oregon School Board Reconsiders Hasty Ban of Eleanor & Park
After a hasty decision last month to pull Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park from an eighth grade classroom without following challenge procedures, the school board of Oregon’s Yamhill-Carlton School District has reconsidered and will allow the book to go through…
CBLDF Joins Opposition to South Dakota Science Education Bill
Late last week, CBLDF joined a coalition of free-speech advocates objecting to a bill in the South Dakota legislature that attempts to weaken science education standards in the state by allowing teachers to advance their own views on topics such…
CBLDF Joins Protest of Revived ‘Beloved Bill’ in Virginia
Virginia’s ‘Beloved bill’ has returned to the commonwealth’s General Assembly for the second year in a row, and CBLDF last week signed on to an opposition letter from the National Coalition Against Censorship. The legislation would require school districts to…
California School District Removes Black History Month Art Exhibit After Parent Complaints
A school district in San Jose, California removed a Black History Month art exhibit from its administrative offices only a few hours after its installation last week, citing complaints from parents who were offended by artist Mark Harris’ mixed-media collages.…
After Ban, Saudi Cartoonist Walks a Fine Line
In January 2016 the popular Saudi political cartoonist Abdullah Jaber seemingly disappeared from social media, fueling speculation among fans and colleagues as to what might have befallen him. He finally resurfaced 10 days later to quell rumors of arrest or…
CBLDF Joins Statement Opposing U.S. Immigration Ban
This week, CBLDF joined more than thirty cultural institutions and human rights organizations around the world in issuing a joint statement opposing United States President Donald J. Trump’s immigration ban on nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries. The ban is…