Report: New College of Florida Tosses Hundreds of Library Books, Empties Gender Diversity Library

UPDATED POST (August 19, 2024) New College Of Florida Library Dean Placed on Administrative Leave After Book Disposal

Shannon Hausinger, New College of Florida’s dean of the library, has been placed on administrative leave, a college spokesperson confirmed Monday.

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New College of Florida spokesperson Nathan March said Hausinger’s leave was “taken after discovering that the library did not follow all of the state administrative requirements while conducting the routine disposition of materials.”

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From the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

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.

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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.

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

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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.”

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