Minneapolis Public Library trustees responded June 7 to a May 24 federal ruling that a sexually hostile work environment existed at the library prior to the establishment of its current policy on public Internet use. In answering the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, they proposed that MPL and 12 disgruntled central-library workers “open a dialog to address the non-monetary concerns . . . in a manner that balances the public’s First Amendment Right to access information.” The “non-monetary concerns” statement refers to an EEOC recommendation that each of the 12 complainants receive $75,000 for their distress, according to the June 5 Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Promising a “good-faith effort,” plaintiff attorney Bob Halagan told American Libraries he was “happy to hear” that the library “appears to be changing its tune” since “employees have wanted to resolve it from the start.”
Meantime, anti-pornography activists are heralding the complainants’ resistance. “We knew it was just a matter of time before some dedicated librarians would stand up to the American Library Association and rescue their library,” Jan LaRue of the Family Research Council said May 25. Denying that she is a “right-wing prude,” MPL staffer Wendy Adamson told the Star Tribune she opposes censorship, but that the complaint “isn’t about Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”
Posted June 11, 2001.