Board votes in favor of keeping sex magazine
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The Ames Public Library Board of Trustees voted 6-1 in favor of keeping the teen magazine Sex Etc. on display and to continue making ten additional copies of the magazine available to library patrons.
Sex Etc. is compiled and published by Rutgers University and features articles by both teen writers and professionals in the field of sex education.
Two ISU faculty members, Ray Rodriguez, student health coordinator at the Thielen Student Health Center, and Warren Blumenfeld, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, spoke in favor of keeping the magazine on display.
Rodriguez said he was approaching the library board as a parent and not just a peer educator. He proposed that the magazine makes reliable information on sex available in a manner that teens are likely to seek out.
Blumenfeld read a Walt Whitman poem that had once been banned and urged the library not to make information taboo.
“If you don’t wanna read the magazine, you don’t need to read it,” Blumenfeld said.
Tim Borseth, Ames resident, said that the real issue was not the banning of Sex Etc. but not giving it preferential treatment.
The library director, Art Weeks, issued a statement thanking the Bannantine family, who submitted the position that led to the debate, saying that this is exactly the action those concerned with library policy should follow.
Weeks also said that despite the concern, the magazine is displayed where it is in order to keep potential readers from being embarrassed to ask for it at the circulation desk.
The board then deliberated briefly on the issue.
“This (magazine) doesn’t necessarily conform to my standards, but I’m thankful not everything in this library conforms to my standards,” said board member Harry Budd.
Sex Etc. is compiled and published by Rutgers University and features articles by both teen writers and professionals in the field of sex education.
Two ISU faculty members, Ray Rodriguez, student health coordinator at the Thielen Student Health Center, and Warren Blumenfeld, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, spoke in favor of keeping the magazine on display.
Rodriguez said he was approaching the library board as a parent and not just a peer educator. He proposed that the magazine makes reliable information on sex available in a manner that teens are likely to seek out.
Blumenfeld read a Walt Whitman poem that had once been banned and urged the library not to make information taboo.
“If you don’t wanna read the magazine, you don’t need to read it,” Blumenfeld said.
Tim Borseth, Ames resident, said that the real issue was not the banning of Sex Etc. but not giving it preferential treatment.
The library director, Art Weeks, issued a statement thanking the Bannantine family, who submitted the position that led to the debate, saying that this is exactly the action those concerned with library policy should follow.
Weeks also said that despite the concern, the magazine is displayed where it is in order to keep potential readers from being embarrassed to ask for it at the circulation desk.
The board then deliberated briefly on the issue.
“This (magazine) doesn’t necessarily conform to my standards, but I’m thankful not everything in this library conforms to my standards,” said board member Harry Budd.
Comments
Wow. Warren Blumenfeld, why don't you practice what you preach in regards to the MU Chapel. "If you don't like the religious symbols, don't go in there."
Cameron: Your paraphrase of my words totally misrepresents my intent and it totally misrepresents the truth. It is very different for a public university to illegally promote religion, as opposed to everyone having a right to read a book or magazine without the fear of censorship. When I stated at the Ames Library that "If you don't like a book, then don't read it" during the public hearings on whether to remove the magazine Sex, etc. from the teen display, this is very different than a university promoting religion. The Constitutional safeguards and restrictions are very different.