Well-known UvA alumni demand that P.C. Hoofthuis library remains
The petition launched earlier this month to prevent the closure of the humanities library in the P.C. Hoofthuis has reached its target of 1,000 signatures. Among them are many well-known UvA alumni from the arts, culture and science.
What do Paulien Cornelisse, Elsbeth Etty, Marita Mathijsen, Lisa Kuitert, Mieke Bal, Joep Leerssen, Jessica Durlacher, René Appel, Martien van Agtmaal, Lotte Jensen and Nina Polak have in common? Not only did they study, obtain their doctorates and/or work at the UvA, but they also care about the humanities library in Spuistraat, part of the P.C. Hoofthuis. It will disappear when the new University Library opens in the University Quarter. Many students and former students think the closure of the library in Spuistraat is a bad idea because they enjoy studying there and/or have fond memories of it.
Sale
The students who started the petition are primarily concerned about the library, but also about the building as a whole, which they would like to keep. They fear, for example, that the building – a municipal monument – will be sold. There is no certainty about this, but outgoing vice-chair Jan Lintsen did express this two months ago when the UvA’s budget cuts were discussed in an interview with Folia. Because the new University Library will open on the former Binnengasthuis site in August, “we need less space elsewhere,” Lintsen said at the time. “The P.C. Hoofthuis and the old University Library on Singel may eventually be sold,” Lintsen said. Something similar happened in 2015, when the UvA sold the nextdoor Bungehuis to a real estate agent, who rented it out to the exclusive British club Soho. The Bungehuis also belonged to the Faculty of Humanities.
Last week, the initiators of the petition, gathered in the action group De Reaksie, announced that they wanted to enter into discussions with the Executive Board for further clarification of the exact plans as soon as the target number of 1,000 signatories had been reached. That has been achieved today.
