Days after a public outcry over images of thousands of discarded books in a dumpster, New College has requested the dismissal of its library dean.
In a letter dated August 16, the university's general counsel Shannon Hausinger said an interim decision had been made to terminate her after she was found responsible for the improper disposal of 13,000 books.
The letter alleged that Hausinger “deleted or failed to retain notes on the reasons or justifications why each book was selected for disposal.” The letter said Hausinger sent a link to the library's disposal policy to the legal department for review on August 14, but the dumpster did not arrive on campus until August 13.
Hausinger had 10 days to respond to the letter before a final decision could be made. New College did not immediately confirm Tuesday whether a decision had been made.
In a statement Monday, university spokesman Nathan March said the books discarded from the library were not the hundreds of books from the Gender and Diversity Center – the removal of which was praised by people like trustee Chris Rufo and spokespeople for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“There is no connection between the New College Library and the books that were removed from the Gender and Diversity Center,” he said. “As previously mentioned, the Gender and Diversity Center was in a separate building and the books were never part of the library's collection. These books could have been claimed at various times and were ultimately claimed and donated; (they) were not disposed of.”
Faculty and students disputed this account, saying they had received no advance warning to claim the books and it was unclear how many were saved.
