By Winslow Laroche
The University will host readings from controversial literature on Wednesday, Oct.3., as part of “Banned Book Week,” a nationwide event celebrating intellectual freedom.
Banned Book Week, which begins on Sept. 29 and ends Oct. 6, started in 1982 with the organization of a similar event by the American Library Association. The ALA said they want to “help librarians and others to feel comfortable in social networking spaces and to reach out to new audiences.” The event is intended to make Americans aware of the rights they are given, and to act upon them. The ALA has acquired the help of MySpace.com, Facebook.com and Secondlife.com to help promote this year’s Banned Book Week.
“Librarians, as a profession, have always stood for intellectual freedom and against censorship in its many forms,” said Daniel Rubey, the dean of Library and Information Services at the University. The list of frequently challenged books includes literary favorites such as the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger and “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. “Tango Make Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell was the most challenged book of 2006, because of its reference to homosexuality and the representation of an “anti-family.”
The display of challenged books will include Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography; “Naked Lunch” by William S. Burroughs, which was challenged for obscenity, drug addiction and corporal punishment; Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” challenged for language and sensuality, and “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury for a reference to abortion.
“The idea of banned books is ludicrous,” said freshman Sam Spar. “People should be able to express themselves in anyway they want, because we have natural rights. People should be more informed with what our rights can do. The reading of the challenged books is encouraged and students should check out the books they take for granted and that other kids can’t read.”
Student, faculty and community residents will read from banned and challenged books on Wednesday, Oct. 3, during common hour, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on the ninth floor of Axinn Library. For more information or to sign up to participate in a reading, contact Sarah McCleskey at (516) 463-5076 or [email protected].