environment of fear and censorship.

[Guest guest]

, " breathedeepnow "

<aug20@m...> wrote:

> >

> " First of all, we are not living in an environment if fear and

> censorship " .

 

" Ever hear of the Public Library? "

 

-

 

Well, could you please explain how this is not censorship to me and

explain the thousands of other examples listed on the web?

 

As for libraries:

 

" Be careful what books you buy or check out from the library. You

could be monitored under the terms of the U.S. Patriot Act. A further

provision of that law threatens criminal prosecution of anyone

alerting you to government inspection of your selections " .

 

Frank

 

 

http://www.alternet.org/story/18426/

 

Personal Voices: The End of Academic Freedom?

By Beshara Doumani, AlterNet

Posted on April 15, 2004, Printed on June 28, 2004

http://www.alternet.org/story/18426/

The most ominous threat to academic freedom in decades looms in a

seemingly innocuous Senate bill expected to come up for vote shortly.

A short but critical clause would rob our society of the open

exchange of ideas on college campuses that is vital to our democracy.

 

House Resolution 3077 passed last fall. It included a provision to

establish an advisory board to monitor campus international studies

centers in order to ensure that they advance the national interest.

While the law would apply to all federally funded institutes with an

international focus, the target is clearly the nation's 17 centers

for Middle East studies. The driving force behind this provision is

the same group of conservative ideologues who have long promoted the

war on Iraq and who support the extreme right-wing politics of the

Sharon government in Israel. Their aim is to defend the foreign

policy of this administration by stifling critical and informed

discussion on U.S. campuses.

 

The Senate vote comes at a time in which conservative activists walk

the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. They include Education

Secretary Rod Paige, who in a moment of failed but revealing levity,

recently described the National Education Association, with 2.7

million member teachers, as a terrorist organization.

 

For professors like me, entrusted with teaching facts as well as

critical thinking and the ability to analyze all sides of an issue,

the pending legislation must be viewed against the backdrop of other

recent and chilling developments.

 

Be careful what books you buy or check out from the library. You

could be monitored under the terms of the U.S. Patriot Act. A further

provision of that law threatens criminal prosecution of anyone

alerting you to government inspection of your selections.

 

Be careful what readings you assign. The University of North Carolina

at Chapel Hill was sued by the American Family Association Center for

Law and Policy for assigning a book on Islam for incoming freshman

students. The university held firm, and, fortunately, the court of

appeals dismissed the suit.

 

Be careful what you say in or out of class. Campus Watch and other

hawkish, pro-Israeli right-wing organizations have launched campaigns

to pressure and discredit professors judged to be un-American for

questioning U.S. policy in the Middle East. Some organizations openly

recruit students to inform on their teachers.

 

Students and faculty connected academically or culturally to Muslim

and Middle Eastern countries have been especially targeted. Some have

been subjected to hate mail blitzes and their institutions pressured

to short-circuit their careers. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn.,

announced his intent last April to introduce legislation cutting

federal funding to institutions of higher learning where students or

faculty criticize Israel, labeling such criticism -- regardless of

its content or basis in fact -- as anti-Semitic.

 

All of this will seem like child's play, though, if the attempt to

stifle academic freedom is formalized through Congress.

 

If the legislation before the Senate passes, an advisory board would

monitor area studies programs that receive money from the U.S.

government under the Title VI program. The Association of American

University Professors, the ACLU and most professional organizations

have raised alarms about this unprecedented government invasion of

the classroom. Among their concerns are the board's sweeping

investigative powers, lack of accountability and makeup, which would

be composed in part from two agencies with national security

responsibilities.

 

Should such a government-appointed board be allowed to police the

classroom by deciding what constitutes a diverse or balanced lecture

or if a teacher's research is in the national interest? Yes, if HR

3077 is passed, because it will replace the professional standards of

the academy with arbitrary political standards.

 

These are dangerous times indeed when politicians and private

interest groups are willing to sacrifice academic freedom in order to

achieve their domestic partisan or foreign policy goals. A key

supporter of the current Senate legislation, Campus Watch founder

Daniel Pipes, shared his thoughts with Salon.com. In discussing MIT

linguistics Professor Noam Chomsky -- recipient of numerous honorary

degrees and scientific awards -- Pipes said, " I want Noam Chomsky to

be taught at universities about as much as I want Hitler's writing or

Stalin's writing. These are wild and extremist ideas that I believe

have no place in a university. "

 

Should academic freedom be effectively shelved in order to pursue a

war against terror without end? Are these dark clouds hanging over

U.S. campuses a passing storm or the harbinger of fundamental changes

in the freedom to teach, learn, question, discuss and debate? How

will universities and colleges respond when they are starved for

resources and more dependent than ever on the funding that would be

withdrawn if a professor were deemed out of line?

 

At stake is the continuation of the academy as the bastion of

informed, independent and alternative perspectives crucial to a

better understanding of the world we live in. If teachers and

students cannot think and speak freely, who can?

 

Beshara Doumani is associate professor of history at the University

of California, Berkeley.

 

© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/18426/

[Guest guest]

You wrote:

 

" Ever hear of the Public Library? "

Regarding censorship.

-

 

Well somebody is naive. I don’t know about your library but last time I

checked, The Anarchist Cookbook wasn’t there and neither were any

“adult” selections. Not that I want either of those selections but if

they aren’t censored, then shouldn’t they have books of that nature?

Stacy

 

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[Guest guest]

I think if you want the Anarchist Cookbook, the library will obtain

it for you. And I think the country got along very well for decades

without there being a so-called " adult " section in libraries.

 

There is only so much room in libraries. Some things need to be left

out. I expect that if someone wants an " adult " title like " Nazi

Rapists In The Girls' Dormitory " they will just have to obtain it at

one of the " adult " bookstores that are springing up all over the

country.

 

<ycats@d...> wrote:

>

>

> You wrote:

>

> " Ever hear of the Public Library? "

> Regarding censorship.

> -

>

> Well somebody is naive. I don't know about your library but last

time I

> checked, The Anarchist Cookbook wasn't there and neither were any

> " adult " selections. Not that I want either of those selections but

if

> they aren't censored, then shouldn't they have books of that

nature?

> Stacy

>

>

>

>