Galileo knew it. Karl Marx knew it. Charles Darwin knew it. The West Virginia University Honors College knows it too: big ideas – ones that really change things – often meet with resistance and need to be protected.

In keeping with that knowledge, the Honors College is partnering with Resident Faculty Leaders around campus to sponsor events during Banned Books Week 2013, acknowledging that the freedom to read and the freedom of ideas are worth celebrating and protecting.

The American Library Association founded Banned Books Week in 1982 as “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read.” By bringing together members of the reading community, it expresses “shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.”

Along with a banned books display in the Downtown Campus Library, reading events will occur in residence halls, with readings from frequently banned and challenged books and discussions on intellectual freedom hosted by RFLs and their guests.

The schedule is:

• Monday Sept. 23, Braxton Tower RFL Dr. Robin Hensel and Brooke Tower RFL Dr. Robin Jones will read from challenged books for young children at 7 p.m. in the Braxton RFL residence.

• Tuesday Sept. 24, Dadisman Hall and Stalnaker Hall RFL Dr. Shane Chaplin will read Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, followed by a screening of the film of the same name, in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Stalnaker RFL house.

• Wednesday Sept. 25, Honors College dean and Honors Hall RFL Dr. Keith Garbutt will read from the works of Founding Father Thomas Paine, including The Age of Reason and Common Sense. The event will take place at 9 p.m. in the Honors Hall RFL apartment.

• Thursday Sept. 26, Fieldcrest Hall RFL Dr. Richard Montgomery and special guest Glenn Taylor, a creative writing professor in the department of English, will read from All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and from Child of God by Cormac McCarthy.

Several residence halls will also host individual events such as movie nights in conjunction with Banned Books Week.

For more information, contact Ryan Claycomb, assistant dean of the Honors College at ryan.claycomb@mail.wvu.edu or 304.293.2100.

-WVU-

rc/09/20/13

CONTACT: Ryan Claycomb; WVU Honors College
304.293.2100; Ryan.Claycomb@mail.wvu.edu

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