Lane students try to stage library sit-in — but can’t pull it off
BY LAUREN FITZPATRICK Education Reporter lfitzpatrick@suntimes.com March 18, 2013 4:30PM
Updated: April 20, 2013 6:27AM
Eager to keep the fervor going for the graphic novel “Persepolis,” students at Lane Technical High School tried in vain to stage a library sit-in during Monday morning classes — but they couldn’t pull it off.
Several hundred kids converged on the library to try to continue a protest that started Friday afternoon in support of the book removed suddenly from some classrooms, said Lane students and at least one teacher.
But the library was closed Monday morning, Lane Principal Christopher Dignam said, after a librarian called in sick. The hallways were cleared as usual, and students went back to class, he said, referring all other questions to the district.
Last week, copies of Marjane Satrapi’s illustrated autobiography about growing up in revolutionary Iran were removed from classrooms and the library at Lane.
Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said Friday that the book was not banned; she also reversed a curriculum recommendation for the novel to be taught to seventh-graders, citing images depicting torture.
