(NEW YORK)— In response to the removal of nearly 400 book titles from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library this week after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office ordered the school to get rid of books that promote diversity, equity and inclusion, PEN America released the comments below on Saturday from Jonathan Friedman, managing director of U.S. Free Expression programs, and author Jennifer Finney Boylan, PEN America’s president, whose book Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs, was among those removed.
The Navy late Friday provided the list of 381 books that have been taken out of its library, marking the first time a U.S. college has banned books since PEN America started tracking this latest campaign of censorship across the country in 2021.
Jonathan Friedman, PEN America’s managing director, U.S. Free Expression programs, said: “The U.S. Navy has long and properly prided itself on training officers who broadly understood the world and could serve this country in war and peace, as fighters and diplomats. This narrowing of the Naval mind is a retreat from the best of what the Navy has stood for. Books are not the enemy; ignorance is the enemy.”
Finney Boylan said: “This is the first college-level library banning we have seen. It reflects the steep escalation of government censorship we are seeing under the Trump administration, which continues its unrelenting efforts to control what Americans can read, learn, and think.”
Since 2021, PEN America has been at the forefront of tracking books being banned in public schools across the country as the result of a concerted campaign by conservative activists. Over that period, PEN America has documented more than 16,000 instances of book bans in schools in nearly every state.
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Suzanne Trimel, [email protected], 201-247-5057