A small group of professors in the English and history departments at San Jose (Calif.) State University oppose the administration's plan for a $171-million, six-story, shared city-university library. The faculty, who have formed a group called Save Our University Library, handed out leaflets during university president Robert Caret's welcoming address to faculty and staff August 24.
Chairman of the History Department E. Bruce Reynolds told the San Jose Mercury News that his students would have a harder time finding books for courses: "To us, the idea of the library becoming a public library is scary."
The university and city council have approved planning for the 500,000-square-foot facility. The state needs to decide whether to put on November's ballot a $9-billion education bond measure that would provide the university with most of the $101 million it has already promised for the joint project.
Posted August 31, 1998.