Books related to defunct gender studies program removed by New College of Florida

The New College of Florida (NCF) recently disposed of hundreds of library books, including many related to its now-defunct Gender Studies program.

The books included “When I Knew,” which includes stories of homosexual individuals explaining their path to understanding their sexual orientation.

The New College’s Office of Communications released a statement explaining its decision to remove the books on Thursday.

The college explained that the removal happened partly because of “longstanding annual procedures for weeding its collection, which involves the removal of materials that are old, damaged, or otherwise no longer serving the needs of the College.”

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Additionally, the New College is removing books associated with its Gender Studies program, which was recently discontinued.

“Separate from the New College library weeding its collection,” the college explained in its statement, “a number of books associated with the discontinued Gender Studies program were removed from a room in Hamilton Center that is being repurposed.”

“Again, Gender Studies has been discontinued as an area of concentration at New College, and the books are not part of any official college collection or inventory,” NCF’s statement continued.

Campus Reform reported last year that Florida Gov. Ron Desantis has signed legislation prohibiting public universities from using public funds to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs on their campuses. NCF announced last year that it would discontinue its gender studies program.

But, despite NCF not having a gender studies program, its decision to dispose of the books was not without its critics.

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“This is just a new low,” said Zander Moricz, the executive director of the Social Equity Through Education Alliance, a student-led organization aimed at organizing the Floridian youth vote. “It also, beyond being evil, beyond being stupid, is wasteful and does not make sense.”

Moricz continued to devise a plan to “save” all of the books, and advocated “responding” to reforms at NCF at school board elections next week.

“The plan from here on out is to run a book drive out of SEE Space Sarasota for the next couple of weeks, so that every book we save can be read,” Moricz added. “The best way to respond to what is happening at the New College of Florida is by voting in the Aug. 20 school board elections. The wave of putting politics before students and education in Florida is not isolated.”

Campus Reform has contacted the New College of Florida for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.