New College of Florida tosses hundreds of library books, empties gender diversity library

Hundreds of New College of Florida library books, including many on LGBTQ+ topics and religious studies, are headed to a landfill.

A dumpster in the parking lot of Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the campus of New College overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center on Tuesday afternoon. 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.

Some discarded books included "Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate", "The War of the Worlds" and "When I Knew," which is a collection of stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting when they knew they were gay. Several books from the GDC were retrienved by local activists before they could be taken for disposal.

New College responds to book dumping

After the Herald-Tribune reported on the book disposal, New College spokesperson Nathan March sent a statement asserting that the account was false. He said the college undertaking a routine maintenance of its campus library and removing materials from the GDC because the gender studies program no longer exists.

"A library needs to regularly review and renew its collection to ensure its materials are meeting the current needs of students and faculty," March wrote. "The images seen online of a dumpster of library materials is related to the standard weeding process."

March referenced Florida Statute 237 as the reason books could not be donated or sold. However, Florida law states that New College could dispose of state-funded personal property by "selling or transferring the property to any other governmental entity ... private nonprofit agency ... (and) through a sale open to the public."

March also said that, because no one claimed the GDC library of books from their previous home in the Hamilton Center, the books were moved to a donation box behind the library. The donation box sits several feet from the book-filled dumpster, and New College's move-in day isn't until Aug. 23 — meaning most students are not on campus yet.

Several students also said they were never told the GDC books were available to claim.

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.

"They take the trees and people had a service to recognize the loss of those trees," she said. "I want to do that for books, because books are what matter."

Natalia Benavides, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at New College, said books in the dumpster carried the college's seal as well as a "discard" sticker on the spine. She watched the truck take the books away, and retained several books from the GDC before they could be thrown away.

When she asked officials whether they could donate the books, she said she was told that under state statute the college can't donate books purchased with state funds.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.