By Hannah Kremer, Managing Editor

In recent months, America has had to come to terms with a gradual oppression of free speech. 

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) have received funding cuts from the government. Late-night comedy shows have been cancelled abruptly, like Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” and Jimmy Kimmel’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

One form of censorship has remained constant over the years. Book bans, which have become seemingly common in 2025, have spiked under the influence of politicians with extremely conservative views. PEN America, an organization that works to protect free expression in literature in the United States, released its index records of banned books between 2021 and 2025. There have been 22,810 recorded cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 school districts.

This means that, in each of these cases, an action has been taken against a book based on its content, usually from parents, communities, administrative decisions or in response to government officials. The book is wholly either made unavailable to students or access to it is restricted.

Among the actions taken by the U.S. government suggesting a new effort to censor people’s voices, this is the most significant issue and also the most undervalued. Book bans are an infringement of student rights and a barrier in our education system — it is also becoming rapidly normalized.

I have loved reading for as long as I can remember. Somewhere, in the backlogs of my parents’ photobooks, you can find me as a baby sprawled on my back with a copy of “Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman hovering close to my face. By the time I reached elementary school, I had exhausted myself from reading the entirety of the Pigeon Series by Mo Willems.

In high school, my taste in reading delved into popular books that are now already banned by some school districts. Books like “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins, “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. Now in college I seek out classics that once changed the world, in the hopes that I could learn from the most influential critics of societal structures at that time: authors.

These were the books of my childhood and it isn’t easy to imagine my life without them. At the same time, I also can’t imagine myself ever having picked them up if they weren’t assigned to me by my teachers or recommended to me by my librarians. A lot of other students across the country feel the same way I do. 

In a survey created by Unite Against Book Bans, in which over 1,500 school-based educators responded, 65% of them claim that conversations around book bans are impacting their ability to teach and 71% of those same educators believe that book banning undermines their expertise as educators. Overall 72% of educators says that when their student’s access to books are restricted, their reading engagement declines. The last statistic is the most worrying.

Knowledge is power. It’s the reason why, as a student body, we enrolled ourselves in higher education. It’s the reason why we are required to take classes in the humanities. It’s the reason why we are assigned books and readings that challenge the way we think. 

When any source of authority or institution hinders our access to that knowledge, we should be concerned.

The future of current generations is at risk because their education is being stunted. Students are having their access restricted to diverse stories, are hindered in their ability to think critically for themselves and students of marginalized groups are not reading stories that represent them. Yes, the gradual removal of journalistic and televised voices is alarming. But the banning of books is doing irreparable damage to students’ futures now. 

If we do not project and voice our concerns, we are doing a major disservice to the future of the American people.