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Ohio high school seizes books, police investigate college course writing prompts

Hudson City High School

FIRE, joined by the National Coalition Against Censorship and PEN America, has sent a letter to Hudson City Schools, state authorities, and local law enforcement raising concerns about their actions.

A public high school in Hudson, Ohio, has managed a remarkable feat: censoring a college course and 鈥 thanks to a mayor鈥檚 grandstanding and false claims that a book of writing prompts is 鈥渃hild pornography鈥 鈥 leading police and prosecutors to investigate the class. Today, a coalition of civil liberties organizations led by FIREis sending a letter to the high school and local law enforcement explaining that the high school鈥檚 administration is violating the First Amendment and state law. 

Unused writing prompts provoke anger and promises of prosecution

Under Ohio鈥檚 , secondary school students may take courses offered by local universities and colleges to earn dual credit from their high school and the college. High school seniors at one Cleveland-area school, Hudson High, can take an offered by Hiram College, a local private college. The textbook for the course 鈥 鈥溾 鈥 is a collection of hundreds of writing prompts, some of them witty, absurd, or provocative. 

When a parent of a Hiram High senior flipped through the book, she was shocked to learn that some of the prompts involve risqu茅 material 鈥 none of them, it turns out, were actually used in the class, which only covers about 6% of the prompts in the book. Some of these unused prompts involve death (鈥淐hoose how you will die鈥), murder (鈥淲rite a scene that begins: 鈥業t was the first time I killed a man鈥欌), sex (鈥淒escribe a time you wanted to orgasm but couldn鈥檛鈥), and substance abuse (鈥淲rite a letter from the point of view of a drug addict鈥). Others are more mundane (鈥淔ind a photograph. Write the story of what鈥檚 happening outside the frame鈥) or humorous (鈥淲rite a script to give telemarketers to sell plastic pooper-scoopers鈥).

Administrators, forecasting the storm of angry parents brewing on Facebook, were prepared for the next school board meeting to be rough. Hudson High鈥檚 that the school was 鈥渃ollecting鈥 鈥 that is, seizing 鈥 the book from students. He explained that none of the controversial prompts had ever been used and promised that administrators would find a suitable, alternative book. 

Angry parents, by 鈥淢oms for Liberty Summit County,鈥 were not satisfied. One parent, an attorney, that 鈥渢housands鈥 of crimes had been committed by the book鈥檚 distribution and promised to take the matter to the district attorney. But it was Hudson Mayor Craig Shubert who stole the show. Proclaiming that he had spoken to a judge () and that the judge had 鈥渃onfirmed鈥 that the book was 鈥渆ssentially . . . child pornography,鈥 the mayor demanded that the school board members resign and, if they did not, they 鈥渨ill be charged.鈥

That dramatic denunciation was captured on video:

Not 鈥榗hild pornography,鈥 but prosecutors and police mount investigation

In a , Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh and the Hudson Police Department denounced threats sent to board members and said 鈥渁 prompt about a fictional writing is not child pornography.鈥 That鈥檚 true, and it鈥檚 helpful for public officials to explain as much 鈥 especially in contrast with Mayor Shubert鈥檚 irresponsible public indictment. It鈥檚 also appropriate for law enforcement to investigate threats of violence, as 鈥true threats鈥 are not protected speech and inhibit public debate.

Police and prosecutors should not be investigating the content of college courses and textbooks.

Unfortunately, the press release went on to say that, although the prompts are not child pornography, police and prosecutors will 鈥渞eview this matter and determine if there is a factual basis that any laws were broken . . . by the writing prompts[.]鈥

None of this is a crime. This is a college writing class. It鈥檚 a book that contains, among hundreds of questions, a few salacious prompts the course didn鈥檛 even use. Police and prosecutors should not be investigating the content of college courses and textbooks.

Parents were warned that courses with 鈥榓dult themes and content鈥 would not change 鈥 and Ohio law forbids it

That the class involved potentially adult material probably should not have come as a surprise to attentive parents. In order to take the class, parents were to sign a acknowledging that the course could include 鈥渁dult themes and content, including books,鈥 and that the content of the college course 鈥渨ill not change for students participating in the College Credit Plus program.鈥 The state鈥檚 CCP website likewise parents worried about 鈥渃ontent that is oriented toward a mature or adult student鈥 that colleges will not 鈥渕odify course content based on the ages of the students.鈥

Because that鈥檚 what Ohio law requires. State law that 鈥淸a]ll鈥 CCP courses 鈥渂e the same courses鈥 as those taught at the college. CCP classes must 鈥溾 and 鈥溾 as the class delivered at the college 鈥 even if, as here, they鈥檙e taught at the high school by a high school instructor.

That鈥檚 for good reason.

If college courses were childproofed, their content would be diluted to meet the expectations of K-12 institutions and parents.

First, when colleges open their courses to high school students 鈥 a program parents want, the state supports, and from which students benefit 鈥 they face the question of whether the content of those courses should be changed to reflect the students鈥 age. The answer must be no: The classes are voluntarily taken with parental permission, and students enroll for the purpose of engaging with higher-level material and discussions, presumably because their parents are confident that they are mature enough for the content. 

As noted by the U.S. Supreme Court, college classes are 鈥peculiarly the marketplace of ideas,鈥 providing curious students the opportunity to be exposed to a 鈥渞obust exchange of ideas which discovers truth 鈥榦ut of a multitude of tongues,鈥 [rather] through any kind of authoritative selection.鈥 If college courses were childproofed, their content would be diluted to meet the expectations of K-12 institutions and parents. Conflict over what material is 鈥渁ppropriate鈥 for high school students has long led to censorship of the books and materials used in class 鈥 see, for example, recent efforts to limit access to or 鈥溾 because some might find their content offensive. Expanding those disputes to higher education will yield censorship. This isn鈥檛 an idle question even within Ohio鈥檚 College Credit Plus program: Last year, state lawmakers that Kent State University because it contained adult-oriented material. 

Administrators, police, and prosecutors who seize books and investigate instructors over college courses are entering dangerous, illiberal territory.

Second, the and students who discuss pedagogically relevant material in college classes. That right doesn鈥檛 depend on where the college class is taught, whether on a college campus, online, in a high school, or in a prison. High schools do not need to offer college courses, but their choice to do so obligates them to protect the constitutional rights of students and teachers commensurate with the rights that would be available on a college campus. Similarly, parents do not need to enroll their students in college courses, but they cannot prevent others from taking classes or having discussions just because some 鈥 other parents, the public, police, or lawmakers 鈥 find them morally objectionable. 

Civil liberties coalition condemns unlawful censorship of dual-credit college course

Today, FIRE鈥 joined by the and 鈥 sent a letter to Hudson City Schools, state authorities, and local law enforcement raising concerns about their actions.

Administrators, police, and prosecutors who seize books and investigate instructors over college courses are entering dangerous, illiberal territory. If students cannot read a book that contains salacious questions in jest, what will the response be when a book contains serious questions to which students or the public object?


FIRE defends the rights of students and faculty members 鈥 no matter their views 鈥 at public and private universities and colleges in the United States. If your rights are in jeopardy, get in touch with us: thefire.org/alarm.

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