A Florida college library dean has been put on administrative leave after hundreds of books, many with LGBTQ+ themes, were thrown away last week. The college was remodeled by Republicans in the state and their friends.
Someone told the USA TODAY Network’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Monday that Shannon Hausinger, who was the head of the library at New College of Florida, had been put on administrative leave.
The recent events at New College, a small liberal arts school in Sarasota, include the removal of books and Hausinger’s leave. The school has changed a lot in the last year as Gov. Ron DeSantis has led a campaign to make it the “Hillsdale College of the South,” referring to the private, conservative Christian liberal arts school in Michigan.
While new leaders were being put in place, many students and longtime staff members left for other universities. When the new board decided to end the gender studies program, DeSantis praised the college as “the first public university to push back on gender indoctrination.”
On August 13, hundreds of books were seen spilling out of a trash can behind the Jane Bancroft Cook Library. Pictures and videos of the huge stack of books, many of which were about LGBTQ+ issues and religious studies, caused outrage right away and were shown all over the news.
When New College threw away library books, they also threw away things from the Gender and Diversity Center, which was a student-run and -curated library of books about women, the LGBTQ+ community, and Black stories. Last week, books like “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 about when they knew they were gay, were found in the trash.
As of Monday afternoon, it wasn’t clear why Hausinger was leaving or how long the leave would last. According to her LinkedIn page, she has worked at New College since February 2024.
Nathan March, a spokesman for the New College of Florida, said that Hausinger took time off “after discovering that the library did not follow all of the state administrative requirements while conducting the routine disposition of materials.”
It’s not clear which exact state rules were not met, but in its original statement from Thursday, New College said it couldn’t donate the books instead of throwing them away because of Florida Statute 273. The law, on the other hand, says that the college could give away or sell extra books.
Videos and pictures from the book sale on Thursday afternoon have been shared all over the internet and have been seen by millions of people on social media. The event has also been covered by news outlets across the country.
In a letter sent Monday afternoon to the college’s students, teachers, and staff, New College President Richard Corcoran acknowledged that the public was upset and worried about the situation with the books being thrown away and criticized the way the news had covered it.
“Unfortunately, much of the coverage has been sensationalized, catering to the narratives of our critics,” he said. “While the optics of seeing thousands of books in a dumpster are far from ideal, it is important to understand that the disposition of materials is a necessary process in libraries, and ensures that our collection remains relevant, up-to-date, and in good condition for our community’s use.”
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