[aisle] Banned Book Roundtable 3/28 at SIUE

[Leah Gregory]

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elizabeth Donald, SIUE elidona at siue.edu<mailto:elidona at siue.edu> (618) 973-7293


Sigma Tau Delta hosts Banned Books roundtable at SIUE March 28

In only eight months of last year, the American Library Association documented 681 attempts<https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/09/ala-releases-preliminary-data-2022-book-bans> to ban or restrict library resources, with more than 1,600 titles targeted. In 2021, there were 729 attempts targeting 1,597 books. These are the highest numbers the ALA has recorded since they began tracking attempts to ban books more than 40 years ago. From the Wentzville, Mo. school board's mass ban of 200 books - many of which are still banned - to a children's book on the 1963 March on Washington banned in Florida, books on race, gender, orientation, immigration and other topics are facing challenges to an unprecedented degree. Even the Bible has seen multiple challenges, according to Education Week<https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/why-the-bible-is-getting-pulled-off-school-bookshelves/2022/12>.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Sigma Tau Delta chapter is hosting a roundtable discussion on this issue on Tuesday, March 28 on the problems we face in keeping books uncensored in the United States and what can be done about it. Participants include:

* Elizabeth Donald (moderator) is chapter president for SIUE Sigma Tau Delta and the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists. Elizabeth is a journalist and author with more than 25 years in the word business, as newspaper reporter and fiction author. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee and a masters degree in media studies from SIUE. She is currently a graduate teaching assistant at SIUE while completing an MFA in creative writing, and teaches journalism as an adjunct instructor at St. Louis University. She is also a freelance writer, photographer and author of horror and science fiction, and serves on the national SPJ Ethics Committee.

* Tony Rothert is the Director of Integrated Advocacy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. He manages all aspects of the ACLU's advocacy in Missouri, including its litigation, policy and campaigns, communication, and community engagement programs. Before his current position, he managed the litigation program. His work at the ACLU has been recognized with numerous awards. His honors include the 2015 Missouri Lawyers Weekly Award for Missouri Attorney of the Year, which noted his successes the previous year in winning free speech protections for protestors in Ferguson, securing the right for same-sex couples to marry in the state, and forcing state agencies that administer the death penalty to comply with public records laws. Before the ACLU, Tony spent six years as the staff attorney for the Legal Advocacy Service of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, worked as an assistant state's attorney in Edwardsville, Illinois, and represented survivors of domestic violence at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation. He holds juris doctorate, master of social work, and bachelor of arts degrees from St. Louis University.

* Dr. Timothy Lewis is an identity politics researcher, social justice activist and assistant professor of political science at SIUE. He holds a bachelor of arts in political science and a bachelor of arts in history from the historic Tuskegee University, as well as a master of science in international relations from Troy University and a Ph.D in political science from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Dr. Lewis specializes in the politics of marginalized identities, with research on the sociopolitical reality of African Americans across reputable peer-reviewed journals. As a certified diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice trainer and workshop facilitator, he has engaged in activism on varying topics including Black Lives Matter, reparations to African Americas, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and critical race theory. He is a member of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Southern Political Science Association (SPSA), the Northeastern Political Science Association (NPSA), and the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS), and was honored with a resolution for service in higher education from the Missouri House of Representatives in 2021.

* Blythe Bernhard has reported for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch since 2007, first covering health care and now education. For the past four years, Bernhard has also worked as an assistant editor, guiding other journalists in the newsroom. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Southern California and previously covered health care for the Orange County Register.

* Leah Gregory is currently membership coordinator and school library liaison at the Illinois Heartland Library System. She has worked in many career areas, including restaurant management, legal secretary, agriculture sales, electric motor sales, and preschool teacher, but eventually landed on librarianship and has been working in and for school libraries ever since, including fourteen years as a middle school librarian. Leah is passionate about reading, literacy, libraries and intellectual freedom.

Join these scholars for a discussion on the ramifications on book banning, why it is on the rise in the United States and what can be done to keep books available in our schools and libraries. The roundtable will be preceded by a Banned Books Fair in SIUE's Morris University Center, hosted by the Cougar Store (SIUE's on-campus bookstore). Titles such as The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe will be available for purchase beside informational booths from the Heartland Library System and the Society of Professional Journalists, among others.

The book fair will run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, and the roundtable will follow at 5 p.m. in Meridian Ballroom. The public is welcome to attend this free event.

Sigma Tau Delta is an international English honor society founded in 1924. Among other goals, the society provides cultural stimulation on college campuses and promotes interest in literature and the English language through its local chapters. There are more than 900 active chapters located in the U.S. and abroad. SIUE's chapter is advised by Dr. Joshua Kryah and Dr. Jill Anderson of the SIUE English Department.





Leah Gregory, M.A., M.S.
Membership Coordinator - School Library Liaison
Illinois Heartland Library System
Edwardsville Office
618.619.2069
lgregory at illinoisheartland.org<mailto:lgregory at illinoisheartland.org>
www.illinoisheartland.org<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.illinoisheartland.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7C4557d2ca289242a0b46808d9daa09362%7Cad3877b36b3b4c2c878f78e3a8da1075%7C0%7C0%7C637781205467143974%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=QQfhl0BAWWkXTvKDBsouThm1agk%2BAyLI%2BuQg2Hf9BWQ%3D&reserved=0>
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