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Local media reported that hundreds of books ended up in dumpsters.
Following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's conservative takeover of the school, New College of Florida has tossed out numerous books about LGBTQ issues including sexuality and gender.
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While college administration insist the removal of materials is part of a normal culling of library inventory, the move has drawn instant opposition at the liberal arts college known historically for a high percentage of LGBTQ studenst.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported hundreds of library books ended up in dumpsters. Reporter Steven Walker posted photographs online that went viral on Thursday showing some of the books being taken off shelves.
Those included Robert Trachtenberg’s “When I Knew,” a collection of stories from gay individuals about their personal journeys about their own sexuality, and Martin Duberman’s “Cures: A Gay Man’s Mindset,” his memoir about seeking and ultimately rejecting conversion therapy.
Photos of the books being hauled and disposed of prompted outrage among the small college’s community.
Amy Reid, a faculty chair who sits on the college’s Board of Trustees, was shocked by the book removals. "They take the trees and people had a service to recognize the loss of those trees," she told the Herald-Tribune. "I want to do that for books, because books are what matter.”
The removal of books comes months after the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout Florida’s public colleges and universities. The state’s university system has also ended a number of subjects from its curricula that were deemed to “woke,” including anything about gender ideology.
After images appeared online of the book disposals, New College pushed back in a statement that both condemned and fully confirmed reporting.
“The New College Library is following its longstanding annual procedures for weeding its collection, which involves the removal of materials that are old, damaged, or otherwise no longer serving the needs of the College,” the statement reads.
“This process is carried out by professional Librarians trained to assess the collection. A library needs to regularly review and renew its collection to ensure its materials are meeting the current needs of students and faculty. The images seen online of a dumpster of library materials is related to the standard weeding process. Chapter 273 of Florida statutes precludes New College from selling, donating or transferring these materials, which were purchased with state funds. Deselected materials are discarded, through a recycling process when possible.”
The statement also confirmed subject matter played a role in the decision to dispose of certain books.
“Separate from the New College library weeding its collection, a number of books associated with the discontinued Gender Studies program were removed from a room in Hamilton Center that is being repurposed,” the statement reads. “These books came from a number of sources, primarily donations over a number of years. Again, Gender Studies has been discontinued as an area of concentration at New College, and the books are not part of any official college collection or inventory. When the books were not claimed for pickup from the room, they were moved to a book drop location by the library where they were later claimed by individuals planning to donate the books locally.”
DeSantis last year appointed a number of conservative activists to the board, including anti-DEI activist Chris Rufo, as reported by Florida Politics. The new trustees promptly fired the school’s president and replaced her with DeSantis’ former Education Commissioner, Richard Corcoran.
The small liberal arts college is Florida’s dedicated honors college, and had previously been seen as somewhat of a haven for transgender and other LGBTQ students.
