Plan To Repurpose ‘Library’ At Montclair State Sees Pushback

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A group of students and staff at Montclair State University are raising a red flag about plan to repurpose a popular “library” on the campus.

The “Classics Library” – located in Dickson Hall room 155 – is much more than just a room full of old books, according to an online petition, which is calling for MSU administrators to put the brakes on their plan.

According to the petition, which has garnered more than 1,200 signatures as of Monday:

“Removing such a vital space for academic success would mean depriving the entire university of the chance to engage in classical literature and traditions, thus losing a keystone aspect of the story of humanity. This room is an invaluable source of knowledge and a home for all humanities students; our university is one of the few remaining non-Ivy League schools in the area with such a diverse and bountiful classics and humanities program, including the vast resources found in Dickson 155. Please, do not let the university take away our home. We, the students of the humanities department, ask that you sign our petition and fight for students' right to have access to knowledge deemed 'unprofitable' by those only interested in the numbers and not the people.”

A university spokesperson said that the “library” is actually a small seminar room, adding that its contents are owned by faculty and are not a part of Montclair State’s official collection.

“This space will be repurposed to provide more space for the building’s Student Success Center, which serves approximately 5,000 students from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences each year and is currently at capacity,” he told Montclair Local.

The university will make an effort to make the resources previously stored in the space available to students, he added. Renovations will begin next month.

Questions about what will happen to the materials remain, however, NorthJersey.com reported.

“Many of the people who contributed materials to it are not around anymore,” an adjunct professor said. “They did so in the understanding that the department would administer the library and be there for students to use, in perpetuity. They were not donated to be abandoned.”

According to an article in the Montclarion, students and staff members have reported that the university’s classics and general humanities department has recently been seeing the loss of other resources, with academic journals being taken and pulped and many offices in the corridor becoming relocated.

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