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

CNA

20-05-2025

SINGAPORE: The attempted disposal of hundreds of books at Yale-NUS College on Tuesday (May 21) 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, some of the books have been recovered 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 lorry 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 staff 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 weeks 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 lorry 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.
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.
He 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 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.