Educators at Georgia Southern University are planning two events on campus this week to address last week’s book burning by students at the Statesboro school.
The university made national headlines last week after a group of young people burned copies of Jennine Capó Crucet’s books following a lecture by the author, whose latest, My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education, discusses issues of racism and white privilege.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that history faculty at the university are planning a teach-in on Tuesday afternoon that will address book burning and censorship. Other educators are organizing a read-in on Wednesday.
University officials pushed back, however, on claims that angry students had congregated at Crucet’s hotel after her lecture last week.
In a statement, Crucet said that her campus hosts had moved her from the lodging where she was originally scheduled to stay to a hotel in another town after students had gathered at the first hotel. Crucet said she learned about the congregated students from a statement by the university’s writing and rhetoric department.
But Jennifer Wise, a spokesperson for the university, disputed that, saying, “We contacted the owner of the establishment where she was scheduled to stay on Wednesday night, and the owner confirmed there were never any unwanted visitors that evening.”
Michael Schaub is an Austin, Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
