By Lauren Czenszak, Sean Margarum & Franc Romanowski
Correspondents
As incidents of book bannings continue to rise across the country, some students and faculty at the College are growing concerned, worried about the personal effect such bans can have on others.
There were at least 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts in the 2024 to 2025 school year. The most book bans were recorded in Florida, Texas and Tennessee. Florida alone accounted for over 2,300 bans, according to ABC News.
Book banning isn’t as simple as one complaint removing a book from state libraries. Books are first challenged before they are banned, meaning that it is in contention of being removed, while a book ban means it has been removed from the library and is no longer accessible.
“The whole movement is very political, you can see that there is a very close connection with school board members, council members or even higher state level politicians who use school board meetings as a platform for their own political agenda,” said the College’s Education Librarian Ewa Dziedzic-Elliott.
Recently, there has been a significant growth in bans recorded by PEN America. “Over the last four school years, the organization has tracked nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states,” according to the New York Times.
Institutions of higher education have not been left unscathed. In August 2024, there were “hundreds of books” dumped in the garbage at New College of Florida, many covering topics concerning typically marginalized communities, according to ABC News.
“Something that a lot of academic libraries have been grappling with is how do we deal with books or knowledge or information in our collection that is outdated — not only outdated, it was wrong when it was written,” said the College’s Library Director Erin Ackerman. “You have pseudo science that is racist … that is sexist.”
Erin Ackerman talking about her experience with bans at the TCNJ library on Nov. 24. (Photo by Sean Margarum)
“How do we, as academic libraries, navigate needing to potentially keep some of this as a record of the historical ideas at the time, but also contextualize so that the student who comes across it in our collection doesn’t think that that represents the state of current knowledge?" Ackerman added.
When incidents like the one at New College of Florida occur — where books about LGBTQ+, African American or women characters are discarded — it sends a clear message to students who can identify with those books: we’re not wanted in society.
“It tells us that our existence is wrong; that we don’t deserve to exist; that we should be hidden back in the closet or just, like, die…,” said PRISM President Mac Ziminsky.
Even students who don’t identify with those communities also see a risk in the bans.
Mary “Mac” Ziminsky gives a lecture on LGBTQ+ rights and the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates during PRISM’s “Know Your Vote” event in the Intercultural Center on Oct. 12. (Photo courtesy of Mac Ziminsky)
Ziminsky sees problems for individuals who may be looking for these books to find information, or at least someone who they can identify with.
“[A]s a queer kid, I thought it was wrong because I never had that representation, so I thought [the people in my life] were hiding it from me for some reason,” Ziminsky said. “So other kids are going to feel that way as well; so it’s just going to create a whole culture of shame, I feel like.”
Growing up, Ziminsky recalls not being exposed to much literature or media with LGBTQ characters. Then, when he saw a same-sex kiss between two of the characters in Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novel, “Drama,” he was shocked.
“I felt like – because I had never seen it before – that it was wrong because clearly someone was hiding this from me, and that means it’s wrong,” Ziminsky said. “And thankfully, I had good friends in, like, fourth and fifth grade that had older siblings that were aware of this. They’re like, ‘No, no, Mary. Being gay is okay.’”
“For marginalized students, having books that reflect them … is crucial,” wrote Grace Pickering in the 2023 edition of “The Serials Librarian” on the harm book bannings do to adolescents. “In addition to diminishing representation and inclusivity, denying Black and LGBTQIA+ students (and students of all marginalized identities) the ability to read books that authentically reflect their lives without stereotyping does them damage.”
That “damage” includes an “increased risk for mental health problems” for adolescents who identify as an LGBTQ individual, according to Pickering. A contributing factor for the increased risk Pickering goes on to write about is how the lack of exposure to the topic prevents others from getting the “opportunity to develop a sense of empathy toward [LGBTQ individuals].”
Through PRISM’s in-office library and resource center, the organization is looking to fill the void of information and provide anyone who desires material about the LGBTQ community with such material.
“Not everybody can bring explicitly queer or trans books to their own homes,” Ziminsky said, “so just having a place where they can read them and have access to them, if they ever desire, is really important.”
There are some parents with concern about certain topics being exposed to their children. They believe they should have the right to control what their children are being taught. There are others that believe children should learn and be exposed to all content in the current world because it is important.
Isabella Herrada, a junior double majoring in Education with a concentration in Special Education and Sociology at the College, weighed in with her opinion as a future educator on this issue, and voiced her concerns and understanding.
“I think it's important, even if that's not your situation, to learn about others and appreciate others for who they are.” said Herrada.
Herrada voiced it may be beneficial to place “warnings on books in the library for children.” The idea is that this could prevent or help children from taking books that aren’t appropriate for their age.
Herrada said, “Kids should be exposed to everything because it does exist in the world. I do think there's ways to do it at a kid's level and not an advanced or adult level. There's ways to do it in, like, child vocabulary.”
Opinions of others differ with Herrada, believing it may not be appropriate for children or too controversial to discuss in school.
“I personally will choose to teach my kids about LGBTQ+ and am supportive of that, but there are families that may want to teach their children about that at home and not have them learn it in a classroom.” says Christian Angileri. “Teaching it in a classroom can be kind of going behind the parents' backs a little bit.”
There are individuals who believe this should not be the case and it is infringing on parents rights. More specifically, books with sexually explicit content are brought to the discussion with this point.
“I understand young children or K-12 not being exposed to sexually explicit content,” says Angileri. “I think once kids are in high school they should be able to have access to those books, but before that it should be up to the parents as to what they want to expose their children to.”
The focus is mostly on books of LGBTQ+, but there is also a ban on some literature discussing race, racism, rape and disabilities. “Of Mice of Men” by John Steinbeck and “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee are two books that have been banned at some schools and can provide important lessons for older kids.
“I don’t think taking books out of libraries completely is the answer, because a lot of books being banned are classic literature.” says Herrada when asked about “Of Mice of Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” being taught and banned in schools. “There’s a reason why it’s called classic literature. These books do discuss heavy topics, but they tell a story and in high school, students are more mature.”
As book bans rise across schools in the United States, educators and parents will continue to debate how to balance age appropriate content with access to different perspectives. While some will argue certain content is unsuitable or incomprehensible for children, others say introducing topics like LGBTQ+ experiences, race and social issues can widen perspectives and help students understand the world around them.
Concern for sexual content being exposed to children too young continues, and others view it as important for children to understand. Many suggest content warnings and parental guidance as a way to navigate these challenges without fully banning the access to these books.
