Censorship

Attacks on public libraries have been worsening in recent years, threatening freedoms that form the bedrock of American society.

A West Texas school district is holding its ground on book access as pressure mounts statewide to pull titles from public school library shelves. In August, a group of Lubbock residents gathered alongside members of Turning Point USA and Citizens for Education Reform to push Lubbock Independent School District leaders to remove books they consider inappropriate for students.

Here’s why parents should individually decide what their children read instead of making that choice for everyone.

A debate over books in Texas' public school libraries picked up new attention last week, when Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threatened legislative action unless Texas school districts pull books from the shelves that he and certain activists believe are "harmful" to students and families and violate Texas' Senate Bill 13. In a meeting of Lubbock ISD's board of trustees, the district stood by the parent-led library council and book review system established under state law.

Texas Republicans have been in a years-long battle against public school library books. The list of "inappropriate" books is now over 2,000.

A few years ago, I created a seminar for my students at Columbia University, where I teach writing, about the challenges of separating a novel’s literary value from its politics. There were 10 books on the syllabus, including “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”Even though I hadn’t read the novel …

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services. I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

From Kalyn Gensic: "I imagine that most people heard this tirade and saw a blustering politician gearing up for election season. What librarians saw was more alarming. We saw a hostage situation taking shape." https://www.texasobserver.org/dan-patrick-books-come-and-take-them/ #books #bookstodon #censorship #Texas #library

Lamar Consolidated ISD has removed nearly 300 works from their libraries and classrooms ahead of the 2025-2026 school year.

Was your favorite book banned from a Texas school district in 2025-2026?

Most educators don't know Senate Bill 4925 exists. Discover why this legislation matters for school libraries, public education, and intellectual freedom.

After removing hundreds of books, Clay County is debating the purpose of high school libraries. School officials called it modernization. Critics see it as the next phase of the book debate targeting fiction books.

Dua Lipa, founder of the Service95 Book Club, has partnered with Livraria Lello to open a physical library in Porto, Portugal.

This is part of PEN America’s ongoing “Snapshots of Censorship” project. Read more and share your story here.Earlier this year, I was told by university administrators at Texas A&M to remove a reading from Plato’s Symposium from my introduction to philosophy course. The reason? Because the reading di

An April 9, 2026, memo from Texas Tech University system chancellor Brandon Creighton imposed extraordinary censorship about gender-related issues on campus. It may be the worst restriction on …

Gretna East High School junior Nicholas Mitchell filed an appeal yesterday with the Gretna Public Schools Board of Education, asking them to reverse the recent censorship of an editorial cartoon and to establish a district policy that lets student editors determine the content of school-sponsored student media without prior review.

Shuttering a women’s studies program, overhauling a gender studies program and cancelling courses focused on race and gender is an attack on all feminist movements and women everywhere.

What H.R. 7661 Means for School Libraries and Why We Must Speak Now

A powerful, firsthand reflection on why “neutrality” is not librarianship and how silence and self-censorship can unintentionally fuel book bans. This post explores representation, intellectual freedom, and what school librarians must do to protect student access and fight censorship.

Government censorship of free speech and academic freedom has reached unprecedented heights on U.S. campuses as lawmakers extend a web of political and ideological control over the sector.

Elon Musk’s Grok has been blocked by Indonesia and Malaysia, the first countries to do so after the artificial intelligence tool’s “digital undressing”

Martin Peterson, a Texas A&M University philosophy professor, was presented last week with a choice straight out of a dystopian novel. To bring his class in line with a prohibition on course materials that “advocate race or gender ideology,” he could either censor the part of his course that …

As a professor of philosophy and ethics, I am more accustomed to reading the news than being a part of it. But many media outlets have reported this week on a directive I was given to excise Plato …

Faculty at Texas A&M University were told this week that roughly 200 courses in the College of Arts and Sciences could be affected by a new system policy restricting classroom discussions of race and …

What the Little v, Llano County Decision Means for Libraries, Readers and the Freedom to Read

"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."

In order to ban books from its libraries, New Braunfels Independent School District has just closed its libraries to middle and high schoolers.