Evidence for the “Slippery Slope” to Censorship: The Story from Florida and Collier County

Authors

  • Eric C. Otto Florida Gulf Coast University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5860/jifp.v2i3-4.6481

Abstract

The House sponsor of Florida's 2017 HB 989 Instructional Materials law, which allows any county resident to challenge classroom and school library materials, has argued that those who anticipate his bill’s detrimental impact on science curricula “are trying to read down a slippery slope that doesn’t exist.” Tracing the genesis of HB 989 back to censorship efforts by ideologically-motivated groups in Collier County, Florida, this paper validates not only the concerns of science educators, but of all educators who value "the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction."

Author Biography

Eric C. Otto, Florida Gulf Coast University

Eric C. Otto (eotto@fgcu.edu), Director of General Education and Associate Professor of Environmental Humanities, Florida Gulf Coast University

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Published

2018-04-09