Backlash arises after Florida school accused of throwing out LGBTQ-themed books

Aug. 16 (UPI) -- A report about hundreds of library books, including "many on LGBTQ+ topics and religious studies," being tossed by administrators at the New College of Florida sparked angry reactions from civil liberties groups on Friday.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Thursday reported that the New College of Florida, a small, public liberal arts school whose governance was restructured last year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, had hauled hundreds of library books to a landfill, "many of which contained LGBTQ+ themes."

Published images showed a dumpster in the parking lot of the school's Jane Bancroft Cook Library overflowing with books and collections, reportedly from the school's now-shuttered Gender and Diversity Center.

The New College has been at the center of a national controversy over academic freedom after DeSantis, a former Republican presidential candidate, appointed six new conservative members to its board of trustees with the stated goal of transforming the institution from an enclave of nonconformist "free thinkers" into a bastion of conservative thought.

Chosen to lead newly reshaped board was Christopher Rufo, an outspoken critic of "critical race theory in American institutions" and an activist claiming to have inspired legislation in 15 states.

The school denied the Herald-Tribune report, issuing a statement claiming it was carrying out a routine maintenance of its campus library and removing materials due to the scrapping of the gender studies program.

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

DEVELOPING: New College of Florida dumped hundreds of library books this afternoon.

The school also emptied the college's Gender and Diversity Center, tossing hundreds of their books.

Working to file a story now. pic.twitter.com/073dU3A6mp — Steven Walker (@swalker_7) August 15, 2024

Nevertheless, the story created a backlash from civil liberties and academic freedom advocates.

"It's appalling to see books treated like common trash, and disposing of them by the truckload is nothing short of an attack on education itself and an attempt at all-out erasure," People For the American Way President Sante Myrick said in a statement .

"These books could have helped people learn about each other, appreciate each other, and come together in common knowledge; instead, they'll likely rot in a landfill, and the people of Florida will be worse off for it," he added.

Myrick termed pictures of the mounds of trashed books "a shocking preview of what we could see during a second Trump administration, and we cannot let it happen. We cannot allow knowledge to become a casualty of hate."

"Politicians and school boards are making moves to ban books -- predominately those by Black and LGBTQ authors -- from public schools and libraries across the nation," added the American Civil Liberties Union. "But we'll keep fighting for our right to learn."

"Ron DeSantis' extremist college makeover continues with the destruction and disposal of hundreds of books from the gender and diversity collection at New College of Florida," said Jonathan Webber , Florida policy director for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"The destruction of books for political gain is completely outside the mainstream of American values and is only embraced by a few fringe elements. Students and parents believe that educational decisions should remain in the hands of educators. They do not want Tallahassee politicians using their classrooms to advance their own ideological agendas," he said.