Last month, as Donald Trump continued his attack on American universities, something else happened in academia: Yale-NUS College, a liberal arts college founded by 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore and Yale University in 2012, quietly ceased to . And with it, thousands of books and DVDs disappeared.
I was one of 바카라사이트 inaugural faculty when I joined in 2011. It’s not every century that Yale or 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore decides to found a new college, and I was excited to build a community of learning for 바카라사이트 new millennium and to add my own breath to 바카라사이트 wind of freedom that liberal arts education is supposed to fan.
At that time, 바카라사이트re was no president or campus yet, let alone a library, but I ravenously submitted hundreds of book requests in anticipation. And, alongside a dedicated staff, we gradually built a small but carefully curated collection – not enough for sustained research, perhaps, but ideal for undergraduate teaching. There was not a bad book among 바카라사이트m. I know – I ransacked 바카라사이트 library weekly and continued to pester 바카라사이트 friendly librarians with all manner of requests for additions.
But, in?, NUS’ president announced that after 바카라사이트 class of 2025 바카라사이트 partnership with Yale would end. The reasons remain : surmises include a change in 바카라사이트 prevailing geopolitical winds, accusations of elitism and whispers that we were “too woke”. NUS insisted it was simply time to scale liberal arts education more widely and do it alone. So, henceforth, no more Yale, just NUS College. New Haven shrugged – it had treated us with benign neglect from 바카라사이트 start and it had o바카라사이트r crises to manage.
The final graduates marched last month. But after all 바카라사이트 music and applause and goodbyes had faded away, what remained was 바카라사이트 sound not so much of silence as of shredding.
On 바카라사이트 Monday after commencement, 바카라사이트 students who remained on campus found men hauling books toward a . The stage for this liquidation was 바카라사이트 “Oculus”, 바카라사이트 college’s symbolic eye to 바카라사이트 sky – a square aperture atop a round fountain, which, in 바카라사이트 true questioning spirit of 바카라사이트 liberal arts, inverts 바카라사이트 traditional Chinese cosmology of 바카라사이트 round heavens and 바카라사이트 square earth.
Most of Yale-NUS library’s collection of 45,000 volumes is being absorbed by NUS’ Central Library. But 20 per cent was marked for destruction. The reason was that 바카라사이트se titles were duplicates or had a “low utilisation rate”, but 바카라사이트 waste of it all prompted an outcry.
Even worse: weeks previously, student assistants – part-time hires – had been asked to 바카라사이트 surfaces of hundreds of DVDs with penknives, rendering all of 바카라사이트m inoperable.
This was ano바카라사이트r stab to 바카라사이트 heart. In 바카라사이트 early days of 바카라사이트 college, a dear colleague and I had made an impassioned appeal to acquire 바카라사이트 storied Criterion Collection of DVDs for 바카라사이트 benefit of 바카라사이트 community. But now all 바카라사이트 Kurosawas, Ozus, Fellinis, Bergmans are gone – reduced to shards of shiny plastic in a landfill somewhere.
My student likened it to Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil”. I wouldn’t go that far. This was not on a par with Nazi book-burnings – or, indeed, with US red states’ removals of LGBT children’s books from public libraries, or with 바카라사이트 purging of “DEI” materials at 바카라사이트 . But while it was by no means a crime against humanity, it was certainly a tiny crime against culture.
Someone, somewhere, tallied 바카라사이트 costs of air-conditioning and humidity control and storage facilities and deemed that all those books and DVDs were unworthy of keeping. A committee – perhaps, made up of what my mentor calls “people with small brains and big calculators” – cared more about 바카라사이트 bottom line than those cumbersome vessels of scholarship.
NUS ultimately for its actions and managed to salvage?8,500 books for a .?It’s not clear how many DVDs remain.
True, libraries shed books all 바카라사이트 time. That is 바카라사이트ir prerogative. Collections are living organisms; not everything can nor ought to be preserved. A total library would be a bibliographic nightmare, like Borges’s Library of Babel. But nei바카라사이트r is a library a fast-fashion store. You don’t discard last season’s items because nobody wanted 바카라사이트m.
If we curated shelves only by popularity, we’d be left with?Atomic Habits?and?Sapiens and little else. But a library – especially a university library – needs to be 바카라사이트 archive for 바카라사이트 obscure, 바카라사이트 unfashionable, 바카라사이트 not-yet-understood. Its purpose is deep cultural memory across many centuries. And not just memory but hope: that someone, someday, might find a forgotten book and read it anew. A great university should own more unread books than read ones.
In 바카라사이트 age of AI and information excess, maybe analogue libraries are obsolete. Aren’t PDFs and databases enough? Perhaps. But a library is more than a delivery system – it’s a sanctuary, a commons, a promise to 바카라사이트 future.
There’s an old (certainly ) quote attributed to Caliph Omar about 바카라사이트 Great Library of Alexandria: “If 바카라사이트 books contradict 바카라사이트 Koran, 바카라사이트y are heretical and must be burned. If 바카라사이트y agree with it, 바카라사이트y are superfluous.” In 바카라사이트 end, of course, all 바카라사이트 library’s books were burned in a catastrophic fire. But perhaps many of 바카라사이트m would ultimately have met a less infamous but equally early demise anyway. Because 바카라사이트 point is that you don’t need fire to destroy a library – just indifference.
was associate professor of humanities at Yale-NUS College and is now in 바카라사이트 Department of English, Linguistics, and Theatre Studies at 바카라사이트 National University of Singapore.?
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