Marshall University does not ban books! The information is provided to let people know what has been banned/challenged elsewhere.
2024
Banned or challenged for being sexually explicit and profanity.
On June 13, the board of Hanover County Schools (VA) granted itself “sole discretion to remove any and all materials of its choosing from the library, classroom, school building(s) and or division.” During the same meeting, the board voted unanimously to ban 19 titles from district libraries, including Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Moms for Liberty members subsequently targeted more than 100 additional titles with material downloaded from a book rating site. Of those, 75 were removed without review. The school board received guidance and gratis legal support from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Southern Poverty Law Center–designated hate group, and the School Board Member Alliance, an affiliate of the Family Foundation.
2023
Banned and challenged for profanity and being sexually explicit.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was one of 32 titles that a Moms for Liberty member challenged at the Humble Independent School District (TX). Some of these titles were removed from middle school libraries without review. Some titles now require parental permission for a student to check them out. The outcome for Andrews’s novel is unknown.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was one of 21 titles reconsidered at Flagler Schools (FL), where it was withdrawn from all school libraries.
2022
Banned and challenged because it was considered to be sexually explicit and degrading to women.
In the Hudson City (OH) Schools, Moms for Liberty challenged titles for language and “sexually explicit” material. A decision on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is pending. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison was retained on the school library shelves. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe remains on the shelves for now but has been sent to a reconsideration committee. A Girl on the Shore by Inio Asano was removed by high school administration.
In another challenge to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a man showed up at a school board meeting of the School District of Lancaster (PA) to say his 11-year-old daughter had checked it out from a middle school library. He read a section about oral sex from the book aloud and called for the resignation of the superintendent. After public comment, the superintendent apologized and said the book would be pulled for review. Subsequently, school officials learned that the book had not been checked out from any middle school library in the previous year, and became suspicious that the man had no child in the school district and had provided a fake name during the board meeting. The book was retained. The district’s solicitor was consulted after concerns were raised that the book contained child pornography and violated the law; the solicitor said it did not constitute child pornography.
On These Pages
A Banned book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.
A Challenged book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.
For additional information contact
Ron Titus, titus@marshall.edu
304-696-6575
Last updated
August 5, 2024