Category Archives: Beena Ahmad: Author

Ideological Exclusion and Malalai Joya

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

Though the U.S. military has occupied Afghanistan for nearly a decade, we have rarely received the opportunity to hear about the lives of every day Afghans from the mouths of everyday Afghans. On the eve of one such opportunity, the book tour … Continue reading →

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Limitations on the speech of public school teachers

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

The limitations on the speech of public school teachers borders on the absurd.  Earlier this month, a federal court ruled that a Mississippi special-education teacher was not entitled to any First Amendment protections for complaining to the school principal that … Continue reading →

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Universities struggle to respond to student outrage

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

Last week, two public universities struggled with how to respond to student outrage. Eleven students were arrested at the University of California at Irvine for disrupting the speech of Israeli ambassador Michael Oren.  Meanwhile, the University of Oregon has been … Continue reading →

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What the City Lost in Almontaser

Posted on September 8, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

In August, 2007, Debbie Almontaser was the interim principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, an Arabic language public high school she had worked with the New York City Department of Education for two years to establish. Though … Continue reading →

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The AETA 4: If this is terrorism, then what isn’t?

Posted on August 10, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

While Congress has been busy protecting animals from cruelty at the expense of the First Amendment (See U.S. v Stevens) elsewhere it has been legislating away the First Amendment rights of animal cruelty protesters to protect corporate profits.  Last month, … Continue reading →

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Why Would Anyone Protest Walter Cronkite?

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

When I first heard that Fred Phelps, the famous anti-gay activist, planned to protest the funeral of one of the modern heroes of journalism, the late Walter Cronkite, I thought I had missed something in The New York Times obituary.  … Continue reading →

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Revisiting Shelby Knox’s Fight Against Abstinence-only Education – A Review and an Update

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

I recently had the chance to watch The Education of Shelby Knox, a documentary chronicling a high school student’s campaign to bring alternatives to abstinence-only education to her school in Lubbock, Texas.  A lot happens in eight years. Shelby has since … Continue reading →

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The Case of the Dangerous Font

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

Two weeks ago in a round-up of tales of student press censorship around the nation, we mentioned the case of PULP magazine, a publication produced by a journalism class at Orange High School.  Just a recap of the highly sensitive … Continue reading →

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Facebook Reveals the Corporate Face of the Associated Press

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

The media never looked more corporate.  After reprimanding a reporter for posting a comment critical of the company’s investment decisions, the Associated Press has come out with a new policy governing the use of social networking sites.  Among the AP’s … Continue reading →

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Report Card: STUDENT PRESS

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Blog of the National Coalition Against Censorship

GRADE: B+ This extracurricular activity remains one of the most difficult offered at school these days – anyone who has ever worked on a student paper will vouch for the work that goes into investigating and getting the scoop, the … Continue reading →

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