Somewhere In Hell, Hitler Smiles As New College Of Florida Purges LGBTQ Library Books
Somewhere In Hell, Hitler Smiles As New College Of Florida Purges LGBTQ Library Books
Gender and Diversity Center already shuttered anyway, so no big, right?
New College of Florida, the state’s formerly top-notch liberal arts college that Ron DeSantis decided to turn into a rightwing mediocrity factory, was the site of a good old fashioned book purge Tuesday. A truck carted off Crom knows how many discarded library books in a dumpster, including books and other materials from the college’s now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center (GDC), which was closed after the elimination of the Gender Studies department last October by DeSantis’s handpicked board of trustees for the college.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that
Video captured in the afternoon showed a vehicle driving away with the books before students were notified. In the past, students were given an opportunity to purchase books that were leaving the college's library collection.
A few hundred books from the GDC collection that had been dumped on the pavement near the library were rescued by the Social Equity Through Education Alliance (SEE), a bunch of troublemakers who urge Floridians to fight back against the state’s weird Christian Nationalist turn by voting in school board and other local elections. SEE executive director Zander Moricz told WTSP-TV the book purge “is just a new low. It also, beyond being evil, beyond being stupid, is wasteful and does not make sense.” Yup, that’s DeSantis’s Florida all right.
Nathan March, a spokesperson for New College, insisted in a statement that the books being trashed were simply removed from the library as part of routine maintenance of its collection, mostly, although sure the stuff from the GDC had to be trashed because the gender studies program was terminated by good decent Godfearing people (we are extrapolating on that last bit).
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. 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.
March lied that Florida law prohibited selling or donating the books because they were purchased with state funds, although the snotty woke reporter at the Herald Tribune went and dug up silly statutory language saying that ACTUALLY, New College could also get rid of its castoff books by “selling or transferring the property to any other governmental entity ... private nonprofit agency ... (and) through a sale open to the public.”
March added that because “Gender Studies has been discontinued as an area of concentration at New College,” the books from the GDC, which were mostly donated in the fist place, were “moved to a book drop location by the library where they were later claimed by individuals planning to donate the books locally.” Wasn’t that nice? There again, however, the Herald Tribune had to go and point out that there was no notice to students or faculty that the books had been piled on the pavement, and that New College’s “move-in day isn't until Aug. 23,” so if the books hadn’t been noticed, they may have sat out in the sun and rain (or been tossed?) if nobody had noticed them.
Before Thursday's board of trustees meeting, Amy Reid, the faculty chair and representative on the board, said she hadn't heard about the disposal of books. When shown photos and videos, she was visibly shocked. She said when you throw away books, you also throw away democracy.
Meanwhile, on social media, DeSantis spokesthug Jeremy Redfern was simply delighted by the news, tweeting, “Putting gender studies books in the garbage? Great job, [New College of Florida] (applause emoji.)” DeSantis comms director Bryan Griffin also celebrated the move, tweeting the New College statement saying everything was normal and adding that “the gender studies books ARE getting dumped because that propaganda is no longer offered at” New College. For good measure, he asked whether Herald-Tribune reporter Steven Walker might “have some sort of bias,” reposting Walker’s Twitter bio, because only a weird groomer freak would include “he/him,” haw haw!
So, look: we do understand that libraries regularly “weed” their collections to remove worn and outdated books, and that often the discards may have been replaced by newer editions on the shelves.
That said, there’s nothing made up about DeSantis’s very public war on what he considers “woke,” especially at New College, and no reason to take these rightwing culture war creeps at their word, especially as it applies to the casual tossing, with no notice, of the books from the Gender and Diversity Center.
And voters are getting increasingly sick and tired of a minority of rightwingers trying to bend the USA to their weird Christian Nationalist ideology. We’re betting the next state elections in Florida will reflect that, although DeSantis and crew still have two more years to piss off normal people even further.
Previously:
[Sarasota Herald-Tribune / WTSP / Tampa Bay Times]
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That picture is painful to see. I find it impossible to even throw away a ratty paperback novel, much less hardcover, serious works.
Board of trustees lady just SHOCKED by the nazism going on at the college that is now run by nazis.
Shocked!
Jesus fuck