{"id":1537,"date":"2026-03-26T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2026-03-26T13:54:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:54:50","slug":"banned-books-brought-to-campus-with-english-club-saga-and-rsl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/2026\/03\/26\/banned-books-brought-to-campus-with-english-club-saga-and-rsl\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books Brought to Campus with English Club, SAGA, and RSL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Views expressed in this article are not representative\u00a0of the\u00a0Herald\u00a0or McMurry University.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, March 5th, from 5:30-7:30 PM the McMurry English Club partnered with both Religious and Spiritual Life and the McMurry Sexuality and Gender Alliance to bring a Banned Books Reading to campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about the history of the event, Elizabeth Prinz, a McMurry Junior and McMurry\u2019s Student Publication\u2019s Editor, and English Club leader said, \u201cEnglish Club used to do banned book readings a few years ago outside on the steps of the library, but this has been the first reading event in a few years.\u201d\u00a0Prinz hopes to continue this event and others like English Club\u2019s Gothic readings annually in the future. Prinz believes\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0important \u201cto expose people to text that they might not be familiar with due to the restrictions and controversies surrounding them.\u201d And in the same vein, \u201cpeople should be free to choose for themselves if they find the themes offensive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the event itself, copies of banned or challenged books were given away first-come to students who attended, donated by local businesses and students, with drinks and refreshments provided as well. Readers recited excerpts from books that are banned in some capacity either here in the U.S. or abroad.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean of Students and University Chaplain Rev. Ricky Harrison opened with a non-canon account of Jesus called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. The text\u00a0contains\u00a0elements some may consider non-traditional, including stories of Jesus as a young child.\u00a0It is in a way \u201cbanned\u201d itself, having not been included in the canon Bible and associated ancient texts.\u00a0The Holy Bible has also\u00a0itself\u00a0been banned, restricted, or censored in dozens of countries around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many books are banned because of their LGBTQ+ subject matter or other themes, like the second selection read\u00a0by junior Jeri Thompson, George Orwell\u2019s \u201c1984,\u201d\u00a0which was banned in different countries for being both pro- and anti-communist because of its discussion of censorship, propaganda, and totalitarian government.\u00a0Thompson\u2019s selection was from the beginning of the book, when the protagonist, Winston, is pondering the realities of the world he lives in and his relationship with\u00a0the totalitarian and\u00a0seemingly omniscient\u00a0Big Brother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McMurry English Professor Dr. Larry Bonds read from \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d by Margaret Atwood, which is set in a world in which an oppressive Christian theocracy assumes power in the U.S. and\u00a0subsequently\u00a0subjugates women into specific, rigid, and disenfranchised social roles. However, it is not so fictional, as both Atwood stated, and Bonds restated,\u00a0every\u00a0single thing\u00a0in the book has happened somewhere in the world, just not all at the same time. So, it could be viewed as a cautionary tale\u00a0or dark prescience and is often viewed as anti-Christian because of it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. McKinney read the children\u2019s books \u201cAnd Tango makes Three\u201d and the \u201cItty-Bitty Kitty-Corn\u201d which have been challenged in and outside of Abilene. In fact, back in 2024, there was controversy regarding the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council\u2019s decision to commission a sculpture of one of these books for that year\u2019s addition to the Adamson-Spalding Storybook Garden statues downtown, \u201cItty-Bitty Kitty-Corn\u201d by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham. Some community members were made uncomfortable by its selection due to its themes of expressing and exploring identity, feeling it promoted transitioning for children. However, the author and illustrator duo publicly clarified that they felt it was a \u201cbook about best friends\u201d above all else.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, English Professor Dr. Annette Wren ended the readings with two spooky stories from \u201cScary Stories to Tell in the Dark\u201d: \u201cThe Bride\u201d and \u201cA Ghost in the Mirror\u201d, which have been banned for being too intense or scary for children.\u00a0Fear, violence, political oppression, religious commentary, and LGBTQ+ themes are common today. So, events like banned book readings give people the freedom to decide for themselves their views on complex and nuanced issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Views expressed in this article are not representative\u00a0of the\u00a0Herald\u00a0or McMurry University. On Thursday, March 5th, from 5:30-7:30 PM the McMurry English Club partnered with both Religious and Spiritual Life and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1538,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[61,70,60],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-49-march-26-2026","tag-abilene-tx","tag-banned-books","tag-mcmurry-university","clearfix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Books-acticle.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}