On Jan. 6, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated a rightwing takeover of New College of Florida (NCF) in Sarasota, the state’s only public liberal honors arts college. DeSantis appointed six new members to the college’s board of trustees. The new members were hand-picked, right-wing activists in culture wars over education, including Christopher Rufo, best known as the architect of the anti-“critical race theory” movement and Charles Kesler, a member of the Claremont Institute who helped to build Trump’s 1776 Commission. They promptly voted to eliminate the diversity, equity and inclusion office and the gender studies program.
But the purge didn’t stop there. Earlier this month, on August 15, the administration at NCF threw out hundreds of books that had been housed in the school’s Gender and Diversity Center (GDC). Most were thrown into a dumpster behind the library, along with other books—many of which were water damaged, and had been part of a routine cull of the college’s library collection. Others were dumped in the parking lot near the dumpster and saved by local students. All of the books from the GDC belonged to a student-curated collection started in the early 1990s.
When Rufo heard about the destruction of the books, he posted on social media, “We abolished the gender studies program. Now we’re throwing out the trash.”
Gov. DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern posted on social media, “Putting gender studies books in the garbage? Great job, @NewCollegeofFL.”
Gov. DeSantis’s communications director Bryan Griffin said on social media, “gender studies books ARE getting dumped because that propaganda is no longer offered at @NewCollegeofFL.” He told a rightwing online outlet, “We’re reclaiming higher education in Florida from the zealots.”
By contrast, Florida Rep. Anna V. Eskamani described the destruction of gender studies books at New College as “the equivalent to burning books—it’s backwards, politically motivated, and a preview of Project 2025. Don’t let this happen to America.”
We abolished the gender studies program. Now we’re throwing out the trash.
Christopher Rufo
Stacey Abrams said: “Attempting to erase diverse communities will not make them disappear… This cynical attempt to deny reality will be futile. We won’t allow them to throw the truth away.”
One of the books thrown out by the administrators at New College was the 2001 book, Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate, written by Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) along with seven of their colleagues in the U.S. Senate. The book tells the stories of these nine women Senators and the challenges they faced winning office and serving in the male-dominated Senate.
“We were stunned to discover that the state of Florida chose to discard Nine and Counting from its collection of books at New College,” said Senators Murray and Collins, who said they wrote the book to inspire the next generation of women to pursue public service, in a statement. “We stand against the senseless banning of books. Such actions go against our constitutional values and the idea that our universities should be places where the freedom of speech is allowed to flourish and perspectives of all kinds are heard.”
“As Senators from different political parties, we don’t always agree, but we understand the importance of always maintaining an open dialogue—throwing away books like Nine and Counting teaches our students exactly the opposite at a time when understanding and a willingness to hear each other out are needed more than ever. We encourage whoever facilitated the removal of Nine and Counting to take the time and read the book. Perhaps they might not be so quick to discard stories like ours next time.”
Administrators also discarded Susan Faludi’s 1991 bestseller Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. In the book, Faludi identified the 1980s backlash against feminist gains in the 1970s and argued that backlash was a historical trend occurring when women make substantial gains in their efforts to obtain equal rights. The book won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction in 1991. When she saw the photo of her book in the trash at New College, Faludi told Ms.: “If anyone needed more evidence of the attack on women’s rights, throwing Backlash in the trash certainly provides it!”
Attempting to erase diverse communities will not make them disappear… This cynical attempt to deny reality will be futile. We won’t allow them to throw the truth away.
Stacey Abrams
In response to the firestorm of public criticism, Nate March, an official spokesperson for the college, said that the destruction of the Gender and Diversity Center books was part of the “standard weeding of materials [from the college library’s collection] to ensure materials are meeting the current needs of students and faculty.” He then suggested that the GDC was shuttered because the college had eliminated the Gender Studies Program.
But professors affiliated with NCF say this is a misrepresentation. “Neither of these are legitimate explanations for why a student space was closed and a student book collection was thrown out,” said Amy Reid, former head of the Gender Studies Program at NCF. “The library book cull has NOTHING to do with the Gender and Diversity Center closure other than it took place on the same day and the books went to the same dumpster. The Gender Studies Program has NOTHING to do with the Gender and Diversity Center, which is a student-run space, not administratively connected to the Gender Studies Program, an academic entity. These excuses point to an ideological motivation.”
When asked why the college did not donate or sell the books, March suggested state law did not allow it to do so, referencing Florida Statute 273—which actually allows colleges to donate or sell surplus books. Later, the College placed a library dean on administrative leave because “the library did not follow all of the state administrative requirements while conducting the routine disposition of materials.”
“It would seem that they are doubling down on obfuscating with scapegoating,” said Reid. “I am distressed that the library dean is being scapegoated for this.”
The ACLU of Florida also condemned the actions. “This is not merely an administrative oversight; it is an intentional act of censorship that strikes at the heart of our democratic values and the very purpose of education,” said Bacardi Jackson, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. “The dumping of these books… is a clear and dangerous signal of the extent to which political interference is poisoning our educational institutions. This isn’t just an attack on academic freedom—it is an all-out assault on the right to free expression, the free exchange of ideas, and the intellectual autonomy that our colleges and universities must protect at all costs.”
Former students condemned the administration’s actions as well. “Seeing books in the trash that other students and I literally bought, donated, and/or curated for the Gender & Diversity Center at New College when we were co-designing tutorials in the 1990s on LGBTQ+ Studies and Feminist & Queer Theory has really shaken me,” said Craven, who attended NCF from 1993 to 1997. “It’s taken (and will continue to take) time to process, but I keep circling back to the sentiment that you can bury ideas, and even individuals, but ultimately they/we are seeds. And we are tenacious.”
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