Determining whether a book will be banned from all Utah public schools starts with a questionnaire.
The questionnaire prompts school districts or charter schools to select one to three reasons why they are deciding to classify a book as “objective sensitive material” under the state’s new standards and ban it locally, according to records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
The three reasons, as stated in the questionnaire, are that a book 1) contains a description or depiction of “human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal;” 2) contains a description or depiction of “acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy;” and/or 3) contains a description or depiction of “fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or [the] pubic region.”
If at least three school districts (or at least two school districts and five charter schools) select one or more of those options for the same book title, it must be removed from all public schools statewide, in accordance with a law passed earlier this year.
Thirteen titles have already reached the statewide removal threshold and on Aug. 2 were ordered off all Utah public school shelves, based on decisions made by just six school districts. It’s unclear how each district answered the questionnaires for each book.
More titles may be added to the statewide ban as they meet the criteria.
The nation reacts
The first batch of banned books included works by acclaimed authors including Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood, and Sarah J. Maas. Twelve of the 13 titles were written by women.
Atwood took to social media platform X following the news that her book “Oryx and Crake” was included on the Utah list.
“Wow, I’m the most dangerous little old lady of 84 you’ve ever heard of!” Atwood posted Wednesday. “... I wonder which satirists of ancient Rome would be banned there? And I’m banned from Russia, too! Oh alas, whatever will I do? Hit Utah with my cane?”
[Read more: It’s official: These 13 books are now banned from all public schools in Utah]
Utah’s book ban also prompted strong reactions from national and local literacy organizations.
PEN America called the date that the list was publicly released “a dark day.”
“The state’s No-Read List will impose a dystopian censorship regime across public schools and, in many cases, will directly contravene local preferences,” said Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America, in a statement Monday.
“Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is antidemocratic,” she continued, “and we are concerned that implementation of the law will result in less diverse library shelves for all Utahns.”
Let Utah Read, a coalition of organizations that supports libraries and combats censorship, launched a campaign urging Utahns to email Gov. Spencer Cox and other elected officials to protest the mandated book bans.
Within 48 hours, the campaign generated over 3,000 emails, according to a news release Thursday from the national nonprofit Every Library. The organization is a founding partner of Let Utah Read.
The Salt Lake City Public Library also pledged Aug. 2 to keep the 13 titles on its shelves.
“The ban does not affect SLCPL, which includes the downtown Main Library and seven neighborhood branches,” library officials said in a statement. “The 13 banned books remain part of the SLCPL collection.”
“As a public library, SLCPL strongly believes in freedom of knowledge, freedom of information, and freedom of imagination,” the statement continued. “This is intellectual freedom. A founding value of public libraries is trust that individuals can choose for themselves what to read and what to believe. No one should decide that for you, or for your children.”
Unanswered questions remain about what’s next
All Utah school districts and charters had to immediately remove the 13 titles from student access and next must “legally dispose” of them. However, the law does not specify when or how they must dispose of the books.
Under the law, USBE members have 30 days from the moment a book’s statewide ban is instituted to potentially overturn it. To do so, “three or more” USBE leaders within that time frame must request that the material be placed on a board meeting agenda, so leaders can vote on the matter.
If no hearing is held, the statewide removal stands.
Some districts are waiting to see whether USBE will overturn any of the 13 book bans before disposing of the titles in their possession.
For example, Canyon School District’s policy states that any titles that have met the statewide removal threshold will immediately be removed from student access, but should a ban be overturned by USBE, the title will be placed back on shelves.
“Canyons School District has determined to not give deference to sensitive material reviews conducted by other educational entities, and will return the given instructional material to student access in the District’s Library collection” should USBE overturn a statewide ban for a book the district did not ban locally, the policy reads.
Sharon Turner, USBE’s director of public affairs, explained that while the law prohibits banned books from being donated or resold, the specific methods of “legal disposal” will be left up to each school district and charter to decide.
The law also doesn’t address whether students can bring banned books from home to school, leaving that decision to the discretion of the districts and charters as well, Turner said.
Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
Correction • Aug. 12, 3 p.m.: This story has been updated to correct the number of districts that made local book ban decisions that ultimately led to 13 books being ordered for statewide removal.