New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran responded to ongoing criticism of the college’s disposal last week of hundreds of library materials, including student-owned books on LGBTQ+ topics from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center. In a Monday statement, Corcoran said the media misconstrued the situation and said the book disposal was part of the college’s normal weeding process.
On Thursday afternoon, New College discarded piles of library books in a dumpster behind the Jane Bancroft Cook Library on campus. However, a few students and activists retrieved some books from the college’s Gender and Diversity Center before they were transported to a waste management facility.
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.
Read more from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
