I am the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Endowed Professor of Political Science at Weber State University and I teach a range of courses on law and courts, American politics, and LGBTQ politics. As a political scientist, I’m interested in challenges to books in schools and libraries because they are attempts to use public institutions to reflect the value system of the challengers. I am currently focused on two book projects. The first, tentatively titled Island Trees v. Pico: The First Amendment, Libraries, and Book Banning, explores the dynamics of censorship of literature from the use of obscenity law in post World War II United States to the rise of book challenges in the later 20th Century. The second, tentatively titled The Perils of Queer Lit, examines the suppression of queer literature in the United States from the 1920s to today.
Outside of academia I’m an amateur beer snob, a cat wrangler who’s hoping to go pro, and a football (or soccer) fan (go Spurs and Celtic!). I also bake an unhealthy number of reasonably edible sweet items. As a queer, nonbinary person I use they/them pronouns.
I can be reached at adventuresincensorship@gmail.com
All the ideas, thoughts, and content on this website represents my personal views and not those of my university.