Florida College Faces Backlash Over Discarded LGBTQ+ Books

The New College of Florida faces a scandal after it has discarded hundreds of library books, many of which had LGBTQ+ themes, as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports. According to the source, the newspaper has published the images of the books thrown into a landfill, which has caused general indignation due to the school’s conservative transformation policy initiated by Governor Ron DeSantis.

As an institution traditionally oriented at liberal arts, the college has become an object of scrutiny since DeSantis appointed six conservative trustees in order to change its challenging academic culture. The administration claims that this action was a part of regular library maintenance following a closure of a Gender and Diversity Center. The college policy-makers claim that such books had to be discarded as a part of a regular process of library updating and clarifying its collection to meet the current needs of the students.

Yet, the critics state that such mass clean-up displays a new level of the ongoing attacks on academic freedom and inclusivity. People For the American Way and the ACLU have already publicly condemned the schools’ actions, calling it another step in the process of the general education censorship. However, there is another stake behind this act of library updating, as it causes increased indignation over the issue of the national educational content control by political bodies.