Charges Refiled Against Student Photographer

The Daily Collegian reports that charges of failure to disperse and disorderly conduct have been refiled against Michael Felletter, the student photographer who was accused of “taking photographs that would excite the crowd and encourage destructive behavior” after taking photographs on assignment at a riot following an Ohio State football game. The charges were dropped last week only to be refiled on Wednesday. Felletter will be represented by State College attorney Andrew Shubin, who took the case pro bono on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Daily Collegian reports:

Withdrawing charges just to refile them is “atypical,” Shubin said. The prosecution’s actions were “tactical so that they could have more time.”

We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

The Joy of CENSORED

A woman in Topeka, Kansas, has requested that the library board restrict other adults’ access to four books in the adult section of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.  The sexual content in The Joy of Sex, Sex for Busy People, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, and The Joy of Gay Sex is fully protected under the First Amendment.

The woman who submitted the complaint says she doesn’t want the books banned, just removed to a restricted section so that patrons would have to request them from library staff.  Restricting books may seem like a fine compromise, but it has a serious chilling effect on library patrons’ reading selection, and adopting such a policy would permit one person to enforce her views on everyone else.

Here is a model response from the library:

Library spokeswoman Diana Friend said some materials may seem inappropriate for children, which is why they are in a different section. Librarians have a philosophical reflex to protect patrons’ right to stroll the aisles and look at materials for themselves, she said. “Putting material behind the counter is a form of censorship,” she said.

Global gag rule lifted

On Friday, January 23rd, President Obama lifted the “global gag rule” by executive order. The policy prohibited international organizations receiving federal funding to talk about abortion as an option. In the Winter 2008 issue of Censorship News, in our “issues to watch” with the upcoming Obama Administration, we wrote:

The “global gag rule,” created by executive order, prohibits federally-funded international health and family planning organizations from telling women about the availability of abortion even in countries where it is legal. Equally troubling, under current law women in this country are denied access to information about abortion in federally-funded family planning clinics, even if those clinics don’t provide abortions. These gag rules censor valuable speech.

Spam charges dropped for MSU student

We’re happy to report that MSU has removed it’s charge of “spamming” against student government leader Kara Spencer.  Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Legal Director Cindy Cohn said,

We’re pleased that MSU has reversed course and will not only drop the charge against Ms. Spencer, but will reconsider its flawed policies. When a school’s anti-spam policy requires students to get approval before they discuss school policy with school officials, it has plainly left the realm of protecting against spam and has violated the Constitution.

FIRE initiatiated an open letter to MSU officials, which was signed by EFF, NCAC. Read the letter here.

In an important step towards open goverment, Obama revives FOIA

On his first day in office, Barack Obama issued a memo reviving The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The memo states: “The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails.” This is a clear change from the policy of the Bush administration. As Slate puts it:

Under Bush-Ashcroft, the presumption was: When in doubt, classify and lock the archives down. Bureaucrats are always in some doubt, so they slammed the vaults and hid the keys. Obama is saying: When in doubt, if there’s no demonstrable harm, open the gates.

Daily Collegian photographer likely to face charges for taking photographs at riot

According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, charges against the student photographer Michael Felletter are likely to be refiled. Michael Felletter, a photographer for Penn State’s newspaper The Daily Collegian, was charged with disorderly conduct and failure to disperse after taking photographs during a post-Ohio State football game riot and disobeying orders from policemen to leave the area. Prosecutors dropped charges against Felletter last Wednesday but expect to refile them this week.

John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, salutes North Dakotans for defending his book

According to The Bismarck Tribune, author John Berendt has a new respect for North Dakota, after his book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was first pulled, then reinstated in the Beulah High School library.

While he was initially shocked at the book’s removal after parent’s complained about “pornographic” content, he followed the news and comments and was happily surprised by the community response. As The Bismarck Tribune reports:

He was as surprised by the accusation of pornography as he was impressed by the “spirited defense,” not only of his book, but in opposition to book banning in general, posted by blog contributors.

He was particularly impressed by three high school students who showed up at a school board meeting to defend his book, as well as the Beulah school librarian, who he describes as a “hero.”

Instances of book-banning are troubling, but it is encouraging when community members engage in a meaningful discussion about book-banning and use avenues of speech to influence and reverse the decisions of school boards.

Why Texas matters: Evolution education in “one of the nation’s biggest buyers of textbooks”

The New York Times reported yesterday on the fight in Texas over science standards. The standards for 20 years have required that science be taught in a way that show the “strengths and weaknesses” of Darwin’s theory of evolution.  The third draft, passed in December 2008 didn’t include this phrase, but this year 7 of the 15 members of the Texas state board of education are social conservatives. It looks like the vote will be close.

As the article points out, this decision in Texas can impact how science is taught beyond Texas. A very powerful force in the textbook market, education policy made in Texas impacts textbooks sold throughout the US. A demand from Texas for science textbooks to include language which undermines scientific discourse about evolution can shape how students in Missouri are taught.

Obama, the Arts and Free Expression

The new president is giving every mildly liberal person reason to hope their pet cause might be advaced in the next four years. So what about my pet cause: creative freedom?

Things appear optimistic. After all Barack Obama enters office with the first-ever presidential arts platform drafted during the campaign. Among other things the platform promises increased funds for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Yet, those who think that now is the time to shake the status quo and make really edgy and critical art should keep in mind that the platform’s top priorities are all related to art education. They include: expanding public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations; Creating an Artists Corps, a national service concept that, much like the Peace Corps, would draft legions of young talent into service across the nation’s schools and arts organizations; and publicly championing the importance of arts education.

USA Patriot Act in the Obama Administration: Continued support for rule that allows access to bookstore, library records

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that, under President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, Eric Holder, what you read could still be held against you.  Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act allows federal agents to demand bookstore and library records when investigating terrorism or espionage.  Section 215 also places a gag order on the bookseller or librarian.  The provision is scheduled to “sunset” at the end of this year, but Holder said in his confirmation hearing that he would support Section 215’s renewal. Booksellers, librarians, and many free speech groups oppose Section 215 for the threats it poses to reader privacy.