Students Also Told To Destroy DVDs Of Classic Films

NUS Book-Dumping Incident

- Shawn Hoo

Student associates working at the Yale-NUS College Library were told by staff to destroy more than 100 DVDs in April, weeks leading up to the college's closure.

One student associate who requested anonymity said she "felt very pained and sad" when she was asked to destroy the DVDs on April 24 and 25. She told The Straits Times she was given verbal instructions to use a penknife to make four deep cuts on every disc to ensure they could not be read.

Most of the DVDs she was tasked to destroy were films, including DVDs from The Criterion Collection, an American company that restores and distributes important classic and contemporary films. Criterion issues are coveted and collected by film buffs because they are usually packaged with extra material such as director interviews and critical essays.

She said: "A lot of them were still in good condition and they could have definitely found a new home. I wasn't very comfortable with the scratching task too."