The Right to Learn, co-edited by PSU Film's Jennifer Ruth Awarded the American Association of Colleges and Universities Book Prize

The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom has been awarded the American Association of Colleges and Universities book prize, The Frederic W. Ness Award. Established in 1979 to honor AAC&U's ninth president, the Ness Book Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the understanding and improvement of liberal education. Judges call the book "compelling, timely, and galvanizing."

Spanning over 40 years of contested history through to today, The Right to Learn speaks out fearlessly against the far right’s decades-long war against intellectual freedom. This essential anthology outlines and contextualizes the culture wars’ demonization of critical race theory, Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and other hot-button issues.

With an introduction that places the current crisis within the broader context of the ongoing attacks on American democracy, The Right to Learn features the testimony and analysis of activists, scholars, and attorneys with firsthand experience in the struggle against well-funded conservative groups’ assaults on academic freedom.

An impassioned, inspired resource for those fighting on the ground for the right to learn, this anthology is structured in 3 parts designed to equip educators with the necessary tools to understand the battle—and to fight back.

The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom was co-edited by Valerie C. Johnson, Jennifer Ruth, and Ellen Schrecker.