Comic Book and ‘Nintendo Power’ Under Fire

In recent weeks, a Spider-Man comic book and Nintendo Power magazine have been challenged in school libraries in Cleveland, Ohio, and in Millard, Nebraska, respectively. Parents have asked whether a scantily-clad cartoon woman (in one case) or violence in a video game magazine (in the other case) constitute appropriate reading materials for students in school.

Here, NCAC takes a look at the ways school officials are responding to the controversies.

Last fall, a principal in a Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Ohio, middle school removed the November issue of Nintendo Power magazine from library shelves over concerns about a violent figure on the cover, and “mature” content.

Update: Judge Agrees with Teens in Pennsylvania Sexting Case

A victory for free expression!

Last week, three Pennsylvania high school students and their families brought suit against a Wyoming County prosecutor over allegations of First Amendment violations.

Yesterday, a U.S. District judge sided with the teens, and issued a temporary restraining order against the prosecutor.

The judge held that the prosecutor’s proposed action violated free speech and parental rights.

NCAC’s coverage of this case is available here.

The court’s ruling is available here.

School Cancels Bill Ayers Speech

The Naperville, IL, School District has cancelled a visit by Bill Ayers at Naperville North High School after the visit scheduled for April 8th sparked heated controversy in the community.

Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Education.  His radical activism and involvement in the 1960s group, the Weathermen, has drawn criticism.

The event was planned only for students in a social studies class, and the students were required to obtain parental permission to attend.

In a statement released this afternoon, Superintendent Alan Leis announced the cancellation of the event, stating that the controversy jeopardized students’ educational experience:

“While parents and others have written urging us to continue with the event because they want students exposed to diverse viewpoints, Dr. Ayers’ appearance has clearly become a “lightning rod,” both inside and outside the District 203 community, because of his past actions. It is clear that any value to our students would be lost in such a highly-charged atmosphere, and that any debate of issues or viewpoints would be overshadowed by media coverage and anger over the event itself.”

The Right to “Sext”: Sending Nude Photos of Oneself is a Right

Another legal action over the practice of sexting has emerged. Only this time it is the alleged “sexters” who are suing state prosecutors on the grounds that criminalizing sexting infringes on their First Amendment rights.

Last month, three high school students in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania faced the threat of being charged with the possession/dissemination of child pornography, when their school confiscated student cell-phones and found pictures of them in states of semi-undress.

The photographs at issue showed two of the girls from the waist up wearing nothing but opaque bras; another girl was photographed emerging from a shower, wearing a towel wrapped around her torso, just under her breasts.

Utah Governor vetos age-restriction bill

We are very happy to report that Utah Governor Jon Huntsman has vetoed bill HB 353. That bill would have punished sellers for “violating” what were previously voluntary age restrictions. In his letter to the Utah Speaker of the House David Clark and Speaker of the Senate, Huntsman writes:

While protecting children from inappropriate materials is a laudable goal, the language of this bill is so broad that it likely will be struck down by the courts as an unconstitutional violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause and/or the First Amendment.

A very laudable decision.  You can read the entire letter here.

BGSU art censorship update

In an email to faculty today BGSU Interim Provost Mark Gromko stated that “the piece was initially removed so that [...] legal review could occur.” Apparently BGSU administrators were wondering whether “the sculpture constituted child pornography or breached restrictions on depictions of child abuse under Ohio law.” As is easy to ascertain, child pornography and depictions of child abuse both have to involve real children. Parlin’s sculpture involves metal, paint and ideas. By no stretch of the imagination can anybody claim that real children were abused in the process of its production.

Once the legal status of the work has been cleared, should it not be restored to display? In this country, even at Bowling Green State University, we don’t censor ideas. Sadly, the Mark Gromko’s e-mail (the bulk of which is a personal attack on the gallery director for opposing the administration) sounds a much more sinister note: “These events have made clear that decision-making concerning gallery exhibitions at Firelands needs to be changed,” states the email, “…Committees comprised of persons of varied background review (sic) the exhibits proposed for display.”

Jack Thompson calls on national policy to limit video game sales

Jack Thompson, who penned HB 353 (the bill pending in Utah that we asked you to help stop) has written a letter to President Obama calling for a national plan similar to the one proposed in Utah. In response to a recent tragedy in Germany where a young man shot 15 people at his former school, German and American media have linked the man’s violent actions to violence in video games. The International Herald Tribune reports that Merkel “was … considering what could be done to limit access to violent video games.”

Thompson is using this moment to call for a US national policy to limit access to video games of minors. In his letter to President Obama (reprinted in full here), he writes:

What they are now doing in Utah shows that what must be done in the United States is what is about to be done in Germany. If the video game industry will not do what is necessary to keep killer games out of the hands of impressionable kids, whom neuroscience proves are the most likely to copycat these virtual reality killing scenarios, then we must implement, as a society, a total ban on the consumption of these murder simulators by adults and kids alike.

As reported at Out-Law.com, the correlation between violent video games and actual violence is “wildly exaggerated.” That this tragedy can be linked to this individual’s playing of video games -  as well as his to access to weapons and social exclusion -  should not blind us to the dangerously censorious tendency to blame the game. As we pointed out in our call to action on the Utah bill, video games are fully protected by the First Amendment. Our response to this sad affair “as a society” should not be to enact a “total ban.”

NCAC’s statement on the removal of sculpture from public university exhibit

Statement from the National Coalition Against Censorship Regarding the Recent Removal of an Artwork from an Exhibition at BGSU Firelands’ Little Gallery

The recent removal of artwork by James Parlin from an exhibition of sculpture in the Little Gallery at Bowling Green State University Firelands is an unacceptable violation of the academic freedom to openly discuss ideas and social problems in a public university, whether these ideas are expressed in books, in the classroom, or in visual form in the gallery. The removal of the work at a public university also raises serious First Amendment concerns.

It is our understanding that the exhibition was put on display following the usual process of selection. One of the sculptures was subsequently removed by the BGSU administration without the consent of either the artist of the gallery’s director. The University has stated that the sculpture was removed from the exhibition because its subject matter was considered “inappropriate” for children and families that come to campus.

HB 353: Imposing ratings systems and the First Amendment

HB 353 has been passed in the Utah state senate, and now sits on Governor Jon Huntsman’s desk.  This bill would hold retailers responsible for selling minors material labeled for mature audiences.  Sellers of books, movies, video games, and music could be penalized up to $2000 for “violating” age guidelines created voluntarily for informational purposes only.

This bill takes a voluntary effort by manufacturers to provide consumers with information about their products and turns it into a mechanism to deprive minors of their First Amendment rights.  By incorporating the private voluntary ratings system, it also constitutes an unlawful delegation of legislative authority to a non-governmental entity.

Private rating systems, such as the ones used to label movies, music and video games, are not required by law, and if they were, would probably be unconstitutional.  Video games, music and film are all protected expression under the First Amendment.  Only “obscene” material that is completely without artistic or other social value is not protected;  other kinds of sexual content is legally protected as is content depicting violence.

“Breaking Dawn” from Twilight series not on the shelves of Utah school library

Reported yesterday in the Salt Lake Tribune, Breaking Dawn, the final book in the Twilight Series has arrived at Brockbank Junior High. So why can’t students check it out? Following a parent’s complaint, has not been put on the library shelves. As far as we understand, the book was selected for educational reasons and should be kept in the library. If there is a question about the books educational value, the school should begin a standard review process.

If the school is just caving to one parent’s demands, then the book should go back on the shelves.  Schools are responsible for deciding which books have pedagogical value for students. As parent Kris Jensen said, “It’s the parent’s job to monitor their children and decide what they can and can’t read, not the schools.”