Protestors Rally to Stop Plan for
Shared San Jose Library
More than 200 students and faculty attended a rally at San Jose State University October 14 to show their opposition to building a $171-million joint university-public library facility on campus to replace SJSU's Clark Library. The rally was organized by Save Our University Library (SOUL), a group of concerned SJSU faculty members who began their campaign to stop the joint-use facility in August.
On its Web site, SOUL states that the plan, if implemented, would be tantamount to "assimilation" of Clark Library by San Jose Public Library, with no benefit to the SJSU community. Instead, SOUL members see a host of drawbacks, including vying with San Jose's 800,000 residents for access to course-related materials, political battles over the campus's unfettered Internet access, and security problems.
The group has apparently struck a nerve among faculty, students, and staff, some 2,500 of whom have signed SOUL petitions against the project, the San Jose Mercury News reported October 15.
Posted October 26, 1998.
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