The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library’s (OWHL) bulletin boards have been removed for the Winter term following multiple incidents of profanity and improper drawings. The boards, first installed in the spring, were defaced four times — once at the end of the Spring term, again during the summer, and twice in the fall. Despite warnings and signs posted at the beginning of the school year, the incidents continued, leaving clubs without a designated space to hang up posters in the OWHL.
Camille Torres Hoven, Director of the OWHL, noted that the OWHL’s policy is to temporarily close advertisement spaces to reset the environment. While the boards may return in the spring or next fall, Torres Hoven explained that their removal highlights the inappropriate consequences.
“The bulletin board removal was disappointing. We created them to solve a problem and make things better for students. Seeing them disrespected was a letdown. We want to collaborate with students and create a space that feels like home, but that requires mutual respect,” said Torres Hoven.
Jess Wallis, Research and Instructional Design Librarian, removed the boards before Fall break and explained their decision. They noted that while the majority of students are respectful, the OWHL will maintain stricter policies for student-related spaces going forward.
“After one of the incidents last spring, we considered solutions like covering them with paper or removing the pins… So, we filed the felt boards to remove any writing, but eventually, we decided it wasn’t worth the risk. It’s about liability, and having something offensive in the library that we can’t monitor is unacceptable,” said Wallis.
Wallis continued, “We’ll be talking internally about ways forward, but it’s clear that an unmonitored board space is not the way. Your contributions, like your events, are really valuable. I imagine Ms. Torres Hoven will talk to the Student Advisory Board and the library staff to find a mutually agreeable, monitored solution. It was necessary to take them down because we can’t have offensive content in the library, especially after four warnings.”
Although guidelines are posted on the library’s website, many students are not aware of their existence. Vedant Bajaj ’28 stated that having the guidelines visible in the library lobby would decrease the amount of problems that accumulate.
“They should clearly advertise their rules, because unfortunately, some people don’t know about them… Personally, I didn’t know that eating food in the library wasn’t allowed until recently. If they clearly advertise their rules, and clearly say what they will do to offenders, then people will be much more conscious about their actions,” said Bajaj.
The disrespectful drawings on the bulletin boards underscore a wider set of misbehaviors from students, as food is consistently left in the OWHL’s basement and librarians frequently report high levels of noise. Although he believes further action is needed, Michael Mechegia ’25 suggested a sectioning of the floors instead of applying stricter rules on the entirety of the OWHL.
“I understand if they ban food, and if they ban snacks or drinks other than water, that could make sense, but banning the noise levels in the library would have to be in only certain places because the library is also a collaborative working space, and it is a place where a lot students do make new friends. Sectioning off the floors would be a little better: we could have the basement as our most collaborative place, and the middle floor as all working space, even rooms next to silent, and also have this silent-ish working place,” said Mechegia.
According to Daniel Liu ’28, such rules would have to be carefully balanced, considering that not everyone agrees with the plan for stricter rules for the library. Liu believes that while a new regulation might be needed to remove vandalism, the implementation might backfire and shatter the current atmosphere of the library.
“The OWHL could probably, instead of removing [the boards], try to implement some strategies to reduce this level of vandalism. Having stricter rules really makes the overall atmosphere more suppressive and restrictive, [so] there shouldn’t be too many strict rules,” said Liu.
