The Iowa City Public Library is kicking off Banned Books Week with a visit from special guest speaker Steven Pico, a pioneer in students' rights and the defense of intellectual freedom.
Pico initiated the only banned books case in American history to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. In its landmark 1982 decision in Board of Education Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico, the Court ruled in Mr. Pico's favor, with a plurality of justices concluding that local school boards "may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books." The Court further held that school boards may not use book removals to "prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion." Writing in the principal opinion, Justice William J. Brennan Jr. famously declared, "Our Constitution does not permit the official suppression of ideas," affirming that censorship of library materials can violate students' First Amendment right to receive information and ideas.
For the past 50 years, Steven Pico has spoken and organized nationwide in support of intellectual freedom and the protection of constitutional liberties. At age 19, he served on the Board of Trustees of his local public library, and at age 20 he represented New York State as a delegate to the First White House Conference on Library and Information Services. After earning his Bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, Pico worked for three years with the nonprofit National Coalition Against Censorship, where he helped secure passage of a New York State law protecting the privacy rights of all library users, regardless of age.
This event is part of the Iowa City Public Library's Carol Spaziani Intellectual Freedom Festival. Established in 1995, the Festival honors Carol's 27-year career at ICPL and life-long commitment to the freedom of ideas. Spaziani believed that the public library's role is to be a resource and a forum for an individual's pursuit and expression of diverse points of view.
This event is free and open to the public.