Most College of Charleston students are probably aware of the decision by the state of South Carolina to cut 52,000 dollars in state funding to the College of Charleston because of the College Reads program, but many may not be aware of what this actually means for the college. Through this program incoming freshmen were assigned the book Fun Home to read, and maybe use in their freshman year experience class.
This year the College decided to assign Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, and this is where the controversy began. Fun Home is a graphic novel about the author’s own dysfunctional childhood and family life. It has been both a popular and critical success—making its way on the New York Time’s best sellers list. So why has it made some members of the South Carolina State Legislator so angry? Because one of the biggest themes it deals with is sexual orientation. In the book the author discusses her realization that her father was gay, and the issues she dealt with when struggling with her own sexuality and eventually coming out as a lesbian. Because of this the state has dubbed it “pornographic” and therefore not suitable for use in schools.
The funding cut has stirred up a huge debate, and has even brought the College of Charleston into the national spotlight. The most important issue here that is being discussed is the threat this action poses to academic freedom. While this content might be controversial to some, it can also be extremely relatable to others and can be seen as valuable learning material for today’s world where issues of sexual orientation have become more widely recognized. Most important: it wasn’t mandatory for freshmen. I repeat: it wasn’t mandatory, so why punish the college when students who found it offensive could have just chosen not to read it?
What has angered many students the most is the state’s over reaching involvement in their education by controlling what the College can and cannot teach. College, after all, is supposed to be a time when we are exposed to the most ideas, some that may not be congruent with the ideas we had growing up. As students at a liberal arts school, College of Charleston students have signed on to learn about many different topics and open up their minds to new forms of information. Limiting student’s access to learn about different lifestyles and point of views narrows their understanding of the world at a time when we are supposed to have the biggest wealth of knowledge at our finger tips.
The issue of academic freedom has long been seen as a slippery slope—if some material becomes banned for simply not fitting in to some people’s ideologies, then how long until the temperature in South Carolina has risen to 451 degrees and books are outlawed all together? While that scenario may seem extreme, it still is very dangerous to start the process of banning material, and it is one that can easily spiral out of control. Who’s to say that other controversial issues such as evolution are safe in the college classroom?
This is 2014 and not 1814; banning books is a huge step back for not only the College of Charleston and the state of South Carolina, but also for the entire country as well. Issues of sexual orientation seem to be becoming the next civil rights movement, and this is just another obstacle in the way of equality. But even with the issue of LGBT rights aside—the health of academic freedom here in this state and this country is put at risk when decisions like this are allowed to happen. So campus community members speak up and fight for your right to learn before it’s too late!
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