After Antonia Butka caught word of a book giveaway this week on the third floor of the 33 E. Ida B Wells Drive building, she eagerly went in search of her next read.
The junior film and television and acting major was in the TRIO lounge on the fifth floor of the building on Monday, Aug. 26, when Ann Hemenway, a retiring professor in the new School of Communication, Culture, and Society, put out that word that she and five other full-time leaving the former English and Creative Writing Department, were cleaning out their offices and giving their books away to students.
The college had offered 18 faculty members offers through the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program to help close the deficit and potentially avoid full-time layoffs. Faculty from the former English and Creative Writing Department who are retiring or taking a buyout include Professors Deborah Holdstein, Thomas Nawrocki, Jeff Schiff and David Trinidad and Eric May, an associate professor.
The halls of the newly renovated third floor were mostly empty during the last week of summer except for the construction workers. While a half dozen students skimmed through the books just inside the former English and Creative Writing Department office, Hemenway and May talked with the students as they continued to sort and organize their books.
An avid reader, Butka sought out her usual genres like plays and literature. However, she also took the opportunity to branch out to other types.
“I don’t find myself buying any non-fiction or more intellectual books, so any time I can stumble upon those for free, and build my collection,” she said.
Hemenway, a celebrated author who taught fiction writing at Columbia, said that before giving leftover books to other places, the faculty wanted to offer the books to students first.
“We love the students; we want them to have this,” she said. “Our students are writers or readers, and they’re going to want them.”
Other students roamed the bookshelves without any genre in mind, like Esmeralda Garcia, sophomore graphic design major. She said she was open to anything that looked appealing to her.
“I love books, and they’re free books, so I’ll take them,” she said. “I just found a stack of poetry books, and they look interesting. I found a screenwriting book so I’ll take that and maybe write a script.”
May agreed with Hemenway that most of the professors giving the books away simply don’t have enough space for them; he was happy to pass them on for students to “use them for school, or just for their enjoyment.
“That makes me feel good, when I see folks come in and pull a book off, because I know that book has found a home, it’ll be in a nice place and be appreciated,” said May, a novelist and former Washington Post reporter who taught creative writing.
After finding books that inspired multiple of her interests, Garcia said she appreciated the effort to share a piece of their office with their students before leaving their roles as professors.
“I think it’s really cool that we get access to all of these free books that the professors want to leave behind, it’s awesome,” she said.
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
