Joan DelFattore

Joan DelFattore (born 1946) is a professor emerita of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware. She is known for her advocacy of academic freedom and for her 1992 book What Johnny Shouldn't Read: Textbook Censorship in America; the book won the American Library Association's Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award (which is awarded for "the best published work in the area of intellectual freedom" ). She has also received awards from the Spencer Foundation, the Gustavus Myers Center, the American Educational Research Association, and the Delaware state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Biography Born in Newark, New Jersey, Joan DelFattore graduated in 1970 with a B.A. from Caldwell College (renamed in 2014 Caldwell University) and in 1976 with an M.A. from St. Bonaventure University. At Pennsylvania State University, she graduated in 1978 with an M.S. in clinical psychology and in 1979 with a Ph.D. in English. In 2011, as president of the Delaware chapter of the American Association of University Professors, she pointed out that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not necessarily protect the freedom of speech of professors at public institutions and that, instead of relying on the First Amendment, professors at public institutions should consider "defining academic freedom as a professional standard embodied in university policies." She was for more than thirty years a professor at the University of Delaware, During her academic career, she published three books with Yale University Press and many articles about freedom of speech.

In recent years, DelFattore has held an appointment as a scholar in residence at the New York Public Library. She is an active member of PEN America, brief description, Yale University Press