SINGAPORE: Student associates at the Yale-NUS College Library were allegedly instructed to destroy over 100 DVDs in April, just weeks before the college officially closed its doors.
One student associate, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Straits Times that she felt “very pained and sad” when she was asked on 24 and 25 April to destroy the DVDs using a penknife.
She was instructed to make four deep cuts on each disc to render them unreadable.
Many of the DVDs were films, including titles from The Criterion Collection, a prestigious American distributor known for restoring and releasing classic and contemporary films, often with scholarly materials such as director interviews and critical essays—issues highly prized by film enthusiasts.
“A lot of them were still in good condition and could have definitely found a new home,” the student said.
“I wasn’t very comfortable with the scratching task either.”
Another student associate, who was given a cart of at least 100 DVDs earlier in April, expressed frustration at the task.
“I was a bit fed up about the whole thing, to be honest, and was very reluctant to contribute my time to these efforts,” she said.
Associate Professor Natalie Pang, University Librarian at the National University of Singapore (NUS), explained that the disposal of audiovisual materials is governed by stricter regulations than books due to licensing and copyright laws.
“Audiovisual materials are governed by licensing and copyright regulations, which restrict redistribution,” she said.
“We have integrated the DVDs we need into our collection. The DVDs that could not be rehomed were those which could not be redistributed.”
However, Professor Pang did not specify how many DVDs were ultimately destroyed.
Associate Professor Andrew Hui, a founding faculty member of Yale-NUS College, expressed dismay at the decision, calling it “gut-wrenching.”
Prof. Hui, who had personally requested Criterion Collection films for the library in 2012, warned of the importance of physical media in an age of unstable streaming platforms and shifting licensing rights.
“As streaming platforms are notoriously unstable, licensing rights shift, and digital catalogues are curated by commercial algorithms rather than scholarly values, physical media ensures long-term access to films that shape our collective memory,” he said.
Prof. Hui described the destruction of the DVDs as “a slow-motion act of cultural amnesia” and criticized the decision to involve student workers in the process.
“In a century where the past can vanish with a click, to destroy them—and to order undergraduates to do so (when they should be watching and learning from them)—is, for a humanist like me, a tiny but terrible act against art.”
A former Yale-NUS librarian, who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimated that the library once housed between 1,600 and 2,000 DVDs.
Book Disposal Controversy
The DVD destruction incident follows closely behind a controversy involving NUS’s handling of books from the Yale-NUS College library.
On 20 May, photos and videos surfaced online showing employees from a recycling company loading hundreds of books onto a truck, sparking widespread criticism.
The disposal of hundreds of books was described as wasteful and distressing by alumni, students, and members of the public.
Workers’ Party MP Associate Professor Jamus Lim described the incident as a failure of top-down decision-making with little consultation.
In a Facebook post on 21 May, Asst Prof Lim described the disposal as distressing and emblematic of how Yale-NUS was itself shut down.
He noted that many of the books were in excellent condition and could have been redistributed with proper planning and consultation.
NUS Issues Apology
In response to the backlash, NUS issued an apology on May 21 for what it described as an “operational lapse” in its handling of the excess books.
The university had initially planned to dispose of 9,000 books, but after public outcry, the remaining 8,500 books were spared, while 500 had already been recycled.
Associate Professor Pang clarified that surplus books are typically redistributed across the NUS library system or offered to faculty and students.
However, students had not been given the chance to access the Yale-NUS books before the disposal.
“We understand later that many students were interested in having these books, and we would have usually acceded to their requests,” she said.
“We did not do so on this occasion, and we apologise.”
NUS also revealed plans to improve its procedures for handling surplus books.
The university will now reach out “more extensively” to faculty, academic libraries, and hold book adoption fairs for students, alumni, and the public.
A public book giveaway on campus will take place from 28 May to 9 June for the remaining 8,500 books.
The incident comes in the final weeks of Yale-NUS College, which officially closed after its last cohort graduated on 14 May.
The liberal arts institution, founded in 2011 through a partnership between Yale University and NUS, is being phased out as part of a merger with NUS’ University Scholars Programme, announced in 2021.
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