There is literally a dumpster full
of books sitting outside of the library of SVSU. I pointed it out to my mom as
we drove into the Science East parking lot on Wednesday morning. We watched as
the pages flapped in the wind, soon to be destroyed with the oncoming snowstorm
expected over the next 24 hours.
My heart sinks every time I pass by
this dumpster knowing that these books can never be replaced. I don’t care what
books they are, how many copies we may have, or if there is an online format
available- the books in that dumpster will be destroyed forever, and there is
nothing more disheartening to me than knowing that an institution of higher
education willingly threw out not only tangible knowledge, but a part of their
history. Those books tell a story that can never be rewritten. They tell people
that SVSU is a school that cares about education. They tell people that SVSU
has a past, a past on those shelves that were once lined with books. They tell
people that books are exciting; books are something that cannot be taken away
from us. But that dumpster sitting outside of the library completely rewrites
that story into something else.
Throwing away books is throwing
away our tuition dollars. Those books belong to us, the students, just as much
as they belong to the University. We, the students, paid to line those
bookshelves over the course of the past 53 years. But we, the students, were
never asked what should be done with those books. We were never asked if we
wanted them. Our opinions and our interests were never taken into account
before the decision to throw those books into a dumpster was made. This, to me,
does not say that SVSU cares about their students, or the education of those
students. How can anyone think it’s acceptable to just toss out pure knowledge
and history like it means absolutely nothing?
As a student at SVSU, I’m offended by this.
I’m offended that they think so little of their student body to find it
acceptable to throw out records of knowledge like that. What does it say about
how the executives look at students that they would just so willingly throw out
valuable tools of research? How are we ever meant to thrive in the world of
academia if academia is tossed haphazardly in a dumpster, blatantly displayed
out in the open for everyone to see?
This is a travesty. It’s a travesty
to think of an institution that prides itself on success, but yet sits back and
allows the destruction of knowledge like it means nothing to them. Any
institution of higher education that willing throws out books to make way for
student lounges without considering alternatives, or even just asking the
professors and students what an alternative can be, is not an institution that
cares much about the education these students are receiving.
Don’t get me wrong, I love SVSU. It’s
a great university. The professors truly care about their students, the faculty
members are terrific, and the students know how to come together and support
each other whenever necessary. But for a school who charges students at every
step of the way, you’d think they would find selling these books would be a
much more appropriate thing to do than throwing them away.
For
instance, the library charges 50 cents per day per book in overdue fees. If these
books are important enough to SVSU to charge so much when they aren’t returned
on time, shouldn’t they be worth more than being thrown in a dumpster? As a
student who is currently suffering from paying back overdue book fines for a
research paper, who tried to renew these books when I realized they were
overdue by one day, but was not allowed to, I take heavy offence to having to
pay such a ridiculous amount of fines when the same institution is so willingly
tossing the books out like literal garbage. Are students who owe these fines supposed
to just sit back and accept their responsibility when the same institution is
so carelessly ridding themselves of theirs?
