Alumni, students slam 'disposal' of books from now-closed Yale-NUS library

SINGAPORE: The attempted disposal of hundreds of books at Yale-NUS College on Tuesday (May 20) has sparked uproar among its alumni and students.

The outcry apparently prompted the university to reverse its decision later in the day. According to alumni, NUS said it would attempt to retrieve some of the books from the recycling company that collected them earlier, to be given out at a later date.

NUS has not officially stated where the books were headed or whether the initial plans have changed. CNA reached out to the university for comment at 2.20pm on Tuesday and received a reply at 11.12pm stating that it was looking into the matter.

A Yale-NUS student who graduated this year and wanted to be identified only as Mr Lee told CNA that he returned to the university campus at around 11.30am on Tuesday after receiving a photo of trash bags filled with books piled at the campus foyer from a classmate. 

When he arrived at 12.05pm, around five students had gathered around a truck from Green Orange Enviro, a recycling company. Two employees from the recycling firm were present alongside two NUS staff members and were engaged in a heated discussion with students who had gathered, said Mr Lee. 

"They were arguing with the other students who were there, basically saying, 'You can't touch these books. These books are slated for disposal, you cannot keep these books. They're not to be donated, they're to be disposed," the 24-year-old student recalled. 

When pressed on why the books could not be donated, NUS staff on site told students not to talk to them on this matter as they were "just staff members" and asked that they speak to the librarian in charge, according to Mr Lee.

When the bags of books packed in white plastic bags were being loaded onto the truck, a man whom NUS staff on site identified as being a librarian from NUS arrived at the foyer and spoke to students, said Mr Lee.

The librarian said that NUS had "no choice" but to dispose of the books because they were given a short runway by the NUS law faculty and NUS campus infrastructure administrators to clear the library books.

"He was basically saying, it's way too hard. When I tried to raise how we had just organised an independent (book donation) drive four days ago, he was saying, 'You don't understand, it's very difficult to remove the RFID security tag from the books," said Mr Lee, who added that around 50 bags were packed on the truck with around 10 to 20 books per bag.

He added that it was upsetting to see what was happening on what was his second-last day at the campus. 

"The one day before we move out, and we see some random disposal lorry with our libraries' books ... written by faculty, used by students, being thrown into a disposal lorry like it's common garbage. Why is this process so poorly handled?" said Mr Lee.

Yale-NUS alumnus Chloe Ang said she first learned about the situation after receiving an influx of messages on the Yale-NUS College Telegram channel.

“There were videos of workers tossing white trash bags onto a truck at the Yale-NUS Oculus (roundabout), and I found out that they were loading up books from the Yale-NUS Library,” she told CNA.

“Immediately, the community brainstormed ways to salvage the books, as the students there in person attempted to take a few of the bags, while others witnessing this online began to contact the relevant companies, NUS personnel, and media outlets. Gradually, more facts rolled in, which were provided with clarification by the staff working at the Yale-NUS Library."

In a LinkedIn post earlier on Tuesday, Ms Ang said the books being disposed of were mostly duplicates to make space for the incoming Law Library. They ranged from brand-new books to out-of-print books and those written by faculty members.

“Some of my peers tried to save them. They were stopped, and the books were taken back by workers,” wrote Ms Ang.

The library staff said the books couldn’t be donated due to RFID tags or transferred to other NUS libraries, according to the alumni member from the class of 2024.

“Crucially, the librarians were given insufficient notice to ‘dispose of the books adequately’. This resulted in the incredible amounts of wastage we witnessed today.”

Ms Jolene Lum, also an alumnus, said she was proud of the students and alumni for galvanising a response on hearing the news.

“The collective action of our students (mostly alumni) that stemmed from these emotions turned the tide on what was hundreds upon hundreds (if not thousands) of books being shredded when they could be shared with others,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Another Yale-NUS alumnus - who also graduated this year and wanted to be identified as Mr Soo - told CNA that he had arrived at the foyer with three friends at around 11am, after which he saw the workers alight from the truck and start loading the bags of books onto the vehicle.
 
The 25-year-old saw that there were two workers from Green Orange Enviro, and said he heard from someone else who asked the workers that they were going to bring the books to a waste management facility called Asia Recycling.

The bags of books were left at the entrance of the Yale-NUS campus, which was “ironic” to him. He estimated that there were about 80 to 90 bags.

There were three library staff members at the foyer as well to monitor the workers loading the books and to stop people from taking the books, he said. He added that one staff member was “hostile” towards anyone who tried to take the books, saying that they “had no right to take it … as it belongs to our property”.

He said that when he and his friends asked why the books were being disposed of, the library staff members told them to go to the library to ask more senior staff members.

“It was not just a rushed operation, it was an opaque operation” on their part, he added.

He also shared that there were messages in chat groups indicating that the school is going to reverse course, but that no official statement has been issued yet.

Speaking to CNA on Tuesday night, Mr Lee added he had seen text messages from the student alumni club that NUS College administration had informed the club's executive committee that the books would be attempted to be retrieved for a book drive.

However, Mr Lee said he was frustrated by "the lack of clarity and timeliness" from NUS on addressing the matter.

Yale-NUS College is set to shut this year, with its last cohort of students graduating in May 2025.

Established in 2011, the college was merged with the University Scholars Programme to form a single new college, the National University of Singapore (NUS) announced in August 2021.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated following a clarification from an interviewee on when the independent book donation drive was organised.