CONTACT: Kathleen MacRae, Executive Director- 302-654-5326 x102; kmacrae@aclu-de.org
Wilmington, DE (September 23, 2014)— The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware commends local high school students who wrote essays weighing in on a recent book censorship incident. Earlier this summer, the Cape Henlopen Board of Education voted to remove Emily M. Danforth’s novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post from the summer reading list for incoming freshmen, a move ACLU-DE contended violated both the First Amendment and the Delaware sunshine law. In what the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) calls a “compelling, eloquent response” to the decision, high school students across the state shared their own thoughts about the novel as part of an essay contest sponsored by NCAC, the ACLU of Delaware and other partners.
The book, which features a lesbian protagonist, was said to have been removed from the district’s summer reading list for incoming ninth graders because it contains the “F” word. At least three books on the list—comprised of winners and nominees of the Blue Hen Book Award, which is administered by the Youth Services Division of the Delaware Library Association—included the word, but only Cameron Post was struck from the list. ACLU-DE urged the board to rescind its voidable June 12, 2014 decision to remove the book, citing First Amendment law and the board’s failure to inform the public prior to the meeting that it intended to consider removing the book, as required by state law, as well as its disregard for its own procedural requirements.
The violation is indisputable,” said Richard Morse, ACLU-DE legal director. “Dislike for a book’s message and fear of controversy and negativity are not constitutional bases for the board to reject a book selected by education professionals.”
The board voted in July to put the book back on the list, after its original decision garnered significant national media attention. However, the board then immediately voted to abolish the entire summer reading list, thereby enabling students to fulfill their summer reading requirement with any book, regardless of its literary value.
In response, NCAC, ACLU-DE and several other local and national organizations organized a Cameron Post essay contest for Delaware high school students. Rehoboth Beach bookstore Browseabout Books provided free copies of the novel to contestants, who wrote 250-500 word essays about what someone would need to know before making an informed decision for or against censoring the book. Three winners were announced yesterday in conjunction with Banned Books Week.
Not only is this a step to protect academic freedom and reclaim students’ First Amendment rights, but it has been an incredible cross-discipline learning experience for Delaware students of all ages,” said ACLU-DE Executive Director Kathleen MacRae. “We commend not only the winners, but everyone who read Cameron Post this summer. They did what teachers wanted them to do all along: really engage with literature, apply it to the real world and learn something from that.”
