Hudson City Schools: Administrators, Police Investigate Hiram College Writing Class
Cases
Hiram College
Case Overview
In September 2021, administrators at an Ohio public high school 鈥渃ollected鈥 copies of a textbook used in a college writing class open to seniors at the high school as part of Ohio鈥檚 鈥淐ollege Credit Plus鈥 program. The town鈥檚 mayor claimed salacious writing prompts in the book 鈥 a handful of the 600 writing prompts in the book, but which were not used in the class 鈥 constituted 鈥渃hild pornography,鈥 and said prosecutions would follow. Prosecutors and police denied that the book constituted 鈥渃hild pornography,鈥 but announced an investigation into whether the use of the textbook violated other laws. On September 21, a coalition of civil liberties groups led by FIREwrote to the high school and local law enforcement explaining that both Ohio law and the First Amendment prohibit high school administrators from censoring college courses.