AUTHORS AGAINST BOOK BANS RESPONSE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S STATEMENT SUPPORTING BOOK BANS IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS
NEW YORK, NY, JANUARY 24, 2025 – Today, the Department of Education announced plans to dismiss eleven outstanding complaints against book bans, and to eliminate the position of Book Ban Coordinator at the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). This distortion of the intended work of the OCR–the protection of civil rights and students’ freedoms in our nation’s schools–is negligent, grossly un-American, and in direct conflict with freedom of speech, a bedrock right enshrined in the Constitution.