• Activities

AFCON Activities

Since its organization in 1988, AFCON has:

• supported with letters, counsel, and personal appearances those who have been threatened with sanctions and censorship in their pursuit of free expression;

• promulgated and developed policies and procedures as tools for schools and other institutions who must respond to challenges to free expression;

• recognized, by the bestowing of the AFCON Academic Freedom Award, Nebraskans who have shown outstanding acts of support for intellectual freedom;

• co-sponsored conferences and presentations on such subjects as - student rights and censorship of books (with ACLU Nebraska), students' freedom of expression (with NHPA), and the censorship of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn (with NELAC);

• hosted nationally prominent speakers, notably Nadine Strossen and Marcia Pally of the ACLU, and Jerzy Kosinski, author, for events in Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings, and Crete;

• held annual meetings involving local experts and members of constituent organizations on topics such as - censorship in Nebraska schools, censorship of the arts, military censorship, political correctness, political double-speak, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, freedom on the Internet, and the teaching of diverse issues;

• supported cable public access and freedom on the Internet through lobbying, news releases, and personal testimony;

• made presentations and reports at national conferences of the groups of which AFCON constituents are members;

• provided speakers, panelists, workshops, and resources on censorship issues wherever possible;

• researched and encouraged legislation on student freedom of expression rights;

• met with school administrators to advise on the creation of freedom-friendly student codes of conduct, and

• conducted a panel discussion on teaching evolution and intelligent design.

We encourage you to join AFCON, either as an individual or as an organization.