{"id":2325925,"date":"2024-08-17T11:57:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T15:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/discarded-gender-and-diversity-books-trigger-new-culture-clash-at-a-florida-college-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-17T12:02:23","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T16:02:23","slug":"discarded-gender-and-diversity-books-trigger-new-culture-clash-at-a-florida-college-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/discarded-gender-and-diversity-books-trigger-new-culture-clash-at-a-florida-college-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Discarded gender and diversity books trigger new culture clash at a Florida college &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdiscarded-gender-and-diversity-books-trigger-new-culture-clash-at-a-florida-college-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2325925&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The New\u200c College of Florida has become \u2063a focal point in ongoing cultural conflicts within the state,\u200b particularly regarding issues of gender \u2064studies and diversity. Recently, a significant number of books from the \u200dcollege&#8217;s library, specifically those associated with its now-discontinued gender studies\u2064 program, were reportedly discarded. This \u2064action has drawn criticism from groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union \u200d(ACLU), which described it as a form \u200bof censorship reminiscent of historical book \u200cburnings. <\/p>\n<p>Christopher Rufo, a\u2063 member of the college&#8217;s \u2062governing board appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis, indicated the book disposal was a part \u2063of\u200d a broader effort to eliminate what he termed &#8220;trash&#8221; from the campus. However,\u2063 college officials clarified that the books disposed of were part of a regular cleaning process and not specifically targeted\u200d for their content. Some materials were reported to have\u2064 been saved by students before being fully thrown away.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy arises in the context \u200cof significant changes at \u200cthe college since DeSantis&#8217;s intervention, including the overhaul of its Board of Trustees and the \u2063dismantling of\u200b various programs seen as part of the &#8220;woke&#8221; agenda. \u2063Critics of \u2062these changes feel that the new administration is systematically erasing the college&#8217;s progressive history, \u2064while supporters believe it \u2062is a necessary shift toward a more conservative agenda. The situation continues\u200d to unfold amidst heightened tensions around discussions\u200b of \u200bacademic content and free expression in educational institutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Discarded gender and diversity books trigger new culture clash at a Florida college<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1730868\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>When hundreds of books got hauled away in a dumpster from the library of the New College of Florida on Thursday, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ron-desantis-new-college-florida-woke-15d61ab52724dc447ba6d03238f7719e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>tiny liberal arts college<\/a>&nbsp;with a governing board dominated by appointees of Republican Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Ron-DeSantis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Ron DeSantis<\/a> once again found itself at the center of the state&rsquo;s culture wars.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We abolished the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-walsh-does-it-again-with-no-1-womens-studies-bestseller-responds-in-classic-walsh-fashion\/\" title=\"Matt Walsh Does It Again With No. 1 \u2018Women\u2019s Studies\u2019 Bestseller, Responds In Classic Walsh Fashion\">gender studies program<\/a>. Now we&rsquo;re throwing out the trash,&rdquo; Christopher Rufo, a DeSantis appointee to the Sarasota college&rsquo;s governing board, posted Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, condemned the college for &ldquo;a brazen act of censorship.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;These actions are nothing short of a cultural purge, reminiscent of some of history&rsquo;s darkest times, where regimes sought to control thought by burning books and erasing knowledge,&rdquo; Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ACLU\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>ACLU<\/a> of Florida, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides were responding to accounts spread through social media that officials at the campus of roughly 700 students had sent a large collection of books from the college&rsquo;s recently shuttered gender studies program to a local landfill.<\/p>\n<p>But a statement by New College administrators said people were confusing two different batches of books. It said volumes taken away by dumpster came from a routine culling of the main library&rsquo;s collection, largely to get rid of old and damaged books. Books related to gender studies, it said, were also placed outside the library and &ldquo;were later claimed by individuals planning to donate the books locally.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A student who alerted classmates to the book dumping told the <em>Associated Press<\/em> that she saw two large boxes filled with books Thursday at the campus&rsquo; student-run Gender and Diversity Center, located in a building where staff were busy moving furniture, repainting and otherwise preparing for students to return to campus next week.<\/p>\n<p>Natalia Benavides said those boxes got moved to the library parking lot near the dumpster, but fellow students and activists responding to her alert managed to save most of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/gender-issues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Gender and Diversity <\/a>Center&rsquo;s books before they got thrown away.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Primarily what was in the dumpster were library books &mdash; they were stamped with `discard&rsquo; and they were bound so that you knew they were from the library,&rdquo; said Benavides, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-admin-expands-tuition-breaks-for-future-teachers-removes-gpa-requirement-to-provide-access-to-students-of-color\/\" title=\"Biden Admin Expands Tuition Breaks For Future Teachers, Removes GPA Requirement To Provide Access To \u2018Students Of Color\u2019\">fourth-year student<\/a>. &ldquo;They seemed to be of every topic under the sun: art history books, books on aesthetics, psychology books.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s not surprising that discarding books would trigger controversy at New College. Known for decades as a progressive school with a prominent LGTQ+ community, the campus became a target for DeSantis and as war on &ldquo;woke.&rdquo; In early 2023, the governor overhauled the college&rsquo;s Board of Trustees by installing a majority of conservative members.<\/p>\n<p>The new trustees promptly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ron-desantis-politics-education-sarasota-florida-c548e63d139856caba179a5593285e87\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>fired the college president<\/a>&nbsp;and replaced her with a Republican politician. Several other administrators also lost their jobs. The board&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/new-college-conservatives-dei-desantis-1a874270b0ff60951cdd8d3d35a10ec0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>dismantled the office of diversity and equity<\/a>&nbsp;and a year ago voted to shut down the campus&rsquo; gender studies program.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every couple of months, they have destroyed some part of this campus whether it is physical spaces or our books,&rdquo; said Amy Reid, the professor who led the college&rsquo;s gender studies program and now plans a yearlong leave of absence.<\/p>\n<p>Reid said she believes books were removed from the Gender and Diversity Center, a student-run office that was independent of the academic gender studies program, because it&rsquo;s also being shuttered. She said the center&rsquo;s sign was also taken down and that it had housed more than two boxes of books, many of which she suspects ended up in the trash.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Was I surprised that this happened?&rdquo; Reid said. &ldquo;No, because we&rsquo;ve seen an effort to refashion this campus and make it unwelcoming.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>New College&rsquo;s statement said only that books &ldquo;associated with the discontinued Gender Studies program&rdquo; had been removed from a room &ldquo;that is being repurposed.&rdquo; A college spokesman, Nate March, declined to to answer further questions.<\/p>\n<p>Zander Moricz, who leads a group of student activists called the SEE Alliance, said books from the Gender and Diversity Center that were nearly thrown out included volumes on slavery, a collection of Jewish stories and three copies of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bible\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Bible<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Campus police prevented students from retrieving books from the dumpster, he said, which was loaded onto a truck that members of his group followed to a local landfill.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The vast majority of the books were 100% readable and in good condition,&rdquo; Moricz said.<\/p>\n<p>The American Library Association encourages academic libraries to cull books in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hundreds-swarm-world-war-ii-navy-gunners-funeral-after-some-worry-no-one-would-attend\/\" title=\"Hundreds Swarm World War II Navy Gunner\u2019s Funeral After Some Worry No One Would Attend\">poor physical condition<\/a> or no longer deemed accurate or relevant &mdash; though its guidelines say books should never be removed because they&rsquo;re controversial.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title> <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Association spokeswoman Jean Hodges said it&rsquo;s up to individual libraries what to do with removed books.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Donation, recycling, resale, and disposal all fall within normal practice,&rdquo; Hodges said by email.<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1730868\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1730868\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>**Discarded Gender and Diversity Books Spark New Cultural Conflict at Florida College**<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, hundreds of books were removed from the library of the New College of Florida and disposed of in a dumpster, reigniting tensions at the small liberal arts institution overseen by a board largely appointed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. Christopher Rufo, a DeSantis appointee on the college&#8217;s governing board, remarked on social media that after abolishing the gender studies program, they were now &#8220;throwing out the trash.&#8221; In contrast, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized this action as &#8220;a blatant act of censorship,&#8221; with Bacardi Jackson, executive director of ACLU Florida, likening it to historical purges where regimes attempted to control thought through book burnings.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy arose from reports circulating on social media about officials sending a significant number of books from the recently closed gender studies program to a landfill. However, New College administrators clarified that there was confusion regarding two separate groups of books. They stated that those taken away in dumpsters were part of routine maintenance aimed at removing outdated or damaged items from the main library collection. The college also noted that some gender studies-related volumes had been placed outside for individuals intending to donate them locally.<\/p>\n<p>A student who alerted her peers about this incident recounted seeing two large boxes filled with books at the campus&#8217;s Gender and Diversity Center during preparations for students&#8217; return next week. Natalia Benavides mentioned that while most books were saved before being discarded by fellow students and activists, many library books marked as &#8220;discard&#8221; ended up in the dumpster\u2014covering various subjects like art history and psychology.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to discard these materials has sparked outrage given New College&#8217;s long-standing reputation as a progressive institution with an active LGBTQ+ community. Following Governor DeSantis\u2019s overhaul earlier this year\u2014where he appointed conservative trustees who subsequently dismissed key administrators\u2014the college has faced increasing scrutiny over its direction.<\/p>\n<p>Amy Reid, who previously led the gender studies program and is now taking leave due to these changes, expressed concern over ongoing efforts to reshape campus culture into one that&#8217;s less welcoming. She indicated that many valuable resources may have been lost during this process.<\/p>\n<p>New College\u2019s official statement only acknowledged removing materials linked to its discontinued Gender Studies program from repurposed spaces without elaborating further when pressed for details by spokesperson Nate March. Zander Moricz from student activist group SEE Alliance reported attempts by campus police to prevent students from retrieving discarded items; he noted several important texts nearly ended up in waste disposal despite being in good condition.<\/p>\n<p>While academic libraries are encouraged by organizations like the American Library Association (ALA) to remove poorly maintained or irrelevant materials responsibly\u2014never based solely on their controversial nature\u2014the final disposition remains at each library&#8217;s discretion according to ALA guidelines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2634,"featured_media":2325926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/new-college-of-florida.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38381,6759,5152,38382,4685],"class_list":["post-2325925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-culture-clash","tag-diversity","tag-education","tag-florida-college","tag-gender"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/new-college-of-florida.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2325925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2325926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2325925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2325925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2325925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}