Overview

• The U.S. Naval Academy has removed nearly 400 books from its Nimitz Library, including titles by Brown University authors and Maya Angelou’s autobiography, under a directive targeting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) content.
• Critics argue the removals, which include books on the Holocaust and Black experiences, compromise the academy’s educational mission and reflect broader concerns about censorship and intellectual freedom.
• The directive employed a keyword-based culling process, raising alarm among academics about parallels to historic censorship in authoritarian regimes.
• The Trump administration has also blocked $510 million in federal funding for Brown University, prompting protests from over 600 faculty members and calls for institutional resistance.
• The controversy has sparked calls for legislative protections, including Rhode Island’s proposed Freedom to Read Act, which aims to safeguard intellectual freedom in educational institutions.