Living up to President Trump’s campaign promise to upend education, the endangered U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced last week the dismissal of 11 complaints and six pending cases filed against school book bans as “meritless claim[s] premised upon a dubious legal theory.”
Additionally, OCR fired book ban coordinator Matt Nosanchuk and eliminated the Biden Administration-created role. Nosanchuk was hired in 2023 to address intellectual freedom violations in schools and federally-funded institutions.
In a press release calling book bans a “hoax,” OCR noted that in reviewing pending cases, attorneys alleged that no book bans had taken place. Rather, “school districts, in consultation with parents and community stakeholders, have established commonsense processes by which to evaluate and remove age-inappropriate materials.” Deeming it “a question of parental and community judgment, not civil rights” the agency absolved themselves of any responsibility.
A second release reads like the blurb on the back of a bestselling book, with cherry-picked quotes from the New York Times, the National Review and two conservative-aligned organizations.
“The Department of Education has terminated President Biden’s program to investigate so-called ‘book bans,’” said Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a right-leaning think tank who first came to fame targeting “critical race theory” (which was never actually taught) and criticizing the teaching of accurate history about slavery and racism. “The Trump Administration understands that restricting pornography in elementary schools is not a ‘book ban’ – it’s common sense.”
Actual librarians and anti-censorship advocates took notice, and issued a correction.
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“Book bans are real,” the ALA said in a statement. “Ask students who cannot access literary classics required for college or parents whose children can’t check out a book about gay penguins at their school library. Ask school librarians who have lost their jobs for protecting the freedom to read. While a parent has the right to guide their own children’s reading, their beliefs and prejudices should not dictate what another parent chooses for their own children.
“The new administration is not above the U.S. Constitution.”
PEN America, which recorded just over 10,000 instances of book bans in public schools across the country during the 2023-24 school year, also issued a statement debunking OCR’s claims. “For more than three years we have countered the rhetoric that book bans occurring in public schools across this country are a ‘hoax,’” said Kasey Meehan, PEN America’s freedom to read director. She added that the organization has logged nearly 16,000 book ban cases since 2021. “These bans most often happen when ‘commonsense processes’ are ignored and state legislation is imposed to restrict students’ right to read and learn.”
We’ve been here before – several times over. Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the extremist Moms for Liberty so-called “parental rights” group, disingenuously claimed, “No one is looking to ban books. Moms for Liberty certainly isn’t.” According to a 2023 PEN America report, Moms for Liberty “is connected to 58% … of all advocacy-led book bans around the country.” The organization is also connected with BookLook and BookLooks, ratings sites that feature out-of-context passages from books. Activists use their reports to draw anger and promote censorship.
In Florida, which recently received its lowest middle school reading scores in 25 years, Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly tried to downplay book bans. “Exposing the ‘book ban’ hoax is important because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination,” he said in a 2023 press release (regurgitated in 2024) that tried to whitewash Florida’s outsize role in creating a book ban model that has been emulated by several other states. DeSantis’ claims were quickly discredited by PEN America.
“Americans must reject threats to our right to read and believe as we wish and demand well-resourced libraries in every institution of learning,” the ALA advised. “Now is the time for all Americans to show up for our libraries. Show up and use our libraries. Show up at library and school board meetings to support students’ access to diverse reading materials. Show up when elected leaders are deciding the fate of facts and the freedom to read.”
GLAAD’s Book Bans – A Guide to Community Response toolkit includes resources, templates, and messaging guides and organizing strategies to defend the right to read for every vulnerable reader, and defeat attempts to rewrite history.