May and June have been difficult months for several Philadelphia universities and cultural institutions: The closure of the University of the Arts, Cabrini University and a heap of trouble at the Free Library of Philadelphia.
The Free Library scenario is a case that might have been lifted from an Agatha Christie plot, since it highlights a host of systemic problems there that apparently have been seething under the surface for months — if not years — before an implosion occurred around the abrupt and unexplained termination of the Author Events staff.
The official story that went out to the media concerned friction between the tiny Author Events staff — Andy Kahan, Laura Kovacs, Jason Freeman and Nell Mittelstead — and the Foundation Board of the Free Library that runs the day-to-day operation of the Library. The exact nature of that “friction” was never explained. Readers of the news reports could only assume that the “friction” had to do with some general underlying tension, a secret that only those “in the know” would have an inkling of.
The catalyst to this news story was the supposed cancellation of the Authors Events series, the news of which came about after Andy Kahan and his staff of three were given a 30-day termination notice by the Foundation Board based on the unknown “irreconcilable differences.” On one level it might be reasonable to assume that if the entire Authors Events staff has been fired, then the Authors Events series — as designed by Kahan and company — is no longer in operation. Call it a knee-jerk reaction, a show of outrage, but it’s understandable.
But then another rug was pulled out from under Kahan’s staff: almost immediately after the 30-day warning they found themselves locked out of their offices and email accounts. The Foundation gave no reason for the sudden change. In most circumstances, an action like this is tantamount to war. Implicit in the brutal order is a vicious back story. Not only does the order bespeak a particular meanness of spirit — especially in the case of Kahan, who has been with the institution for 26 years, and who over time had become the face of the Author Events series — it evokes a purge mentality that may spell trouble for the Free Library’s future.
Philadelphians want to know: what did Kahan and his staff do to merit this kind of excommunication, since, by all accounts they were treated like a bunch of recent hires who were fired because they were found to be smoking crack among the library shelves.
WHYY reported on the friction between the Foundation Board and the Author Events staff but didn’t get specific.
“The terminated staff members did not field questions about the disagreement [with the Foundation] but confirmed in their statement that the friction between them and the foundation had been ongoing.
“‘We had discussed our concerns with the Free Library and foundation leadership on numerous occasions,’ they said.
“Sources inside the library staff say there was a culture of disrespect from leadership, describing it as ‘cruel.’”
The word “cruel” hides a multitude of sins. In many ways it is reminiscent of the scandal at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2020 when a curator there, Joshua Helmer, was forced to resign after being charged with helping to foster a Museum culture of abuse or sexual misconduct.
The Foundation Board’s power can be traced to the leadership of Elliot L. Shelkrot, president of the Free Library from 1987 to 2007. Shelkrot died in March 2016. Obituaries then praised his tenure at the library as something special and truly remarkable. Editorials and op-eds competed with one another in anointing him as a cultural saint and revolutionary force.
Dan Rottenberg, writing in the Broad Street Review, stated that under Shelkrot’s leadership in 1988 the board resuscitated “the long-dormant foundation that broke the Library’s no-win cycle of total public dependency.”
Rottenberg continued, “Soon the once seedy Central Library on Logan Square was hosting a full calendar of visiting authors, not to mention a lavish annual Borrower’s Ball as well as special events for the Free Library Foundation’s elite George S. Pepper Society. Such glamorous offerings drew Philadelphia’s Main Liners and assorted other beautiful people into a building they’d rarely set foot in…”
The Chestnut Hill Local raised Shelkrot’s status even further when it stated, “Shelkrot will be remembered for launching the library’s Author Events Series program, enhancing programs and services for children, undertaking the massive Big Change program, during which all neighborhood libraries were renovated and modernized, and overseeing the installation of computers and Wi-Fi at every library location in the city.”
As a high school student in the late 1960s, I attended a Central Branch Free Library lecture by writer Susan Sontag. Presumably this was orchestrated by “regular” librarians since the Foundation was yet to be and there was no Author Events series per se. While Wi-Fi and the installation of computers may be a technological win and deserving of applause, the charge that during his tenure Shelkrot authorized the burning of library books deemed no longer useful or important, still shadows his legacy.
The Shelkrot-inspired design revolution, while inspiring the recent addition of two floors of multi-purpose common space, long ago turned the main reading room on the first floor — which used to house new books of every description, both fiction and non-fiction — into a video-CD-books-on-tape megaplex with a radically scaled-down new book section on the side.
The balcony section of the first floor reading room was where one could find the works of European masters, such as the works of Andre Gide, yet many of these books have been removed or replaced. The replacement books seem to be tomes that cater to the lowest common (intellectual) denominator.
Seemingly unaffected by the redesign revolution is the second floor Religion and Philosophy reading room. When I visit that section today I still see books I used to thumb through as a high school student in the late 1960s, although the majority of religion books published since that time have not found their way to the shelves here. (Might this be because fewer and fewer people today are interested in religion?)
And, of course, who can forget how this same design revolt also emptied the once beautiful Central Lobby of its exquisite display shelving and replaced it with…institutional dead space.
This returns us to the central story: the mysterious friction between the Foundation and Andy Kahan’s staff. In the name of fairness, let me say that I have no doubt that over time Kahan and his staff came to see themselves as a sort of elitist crew that didn’t have to answer to anyone. Yet as the ‘body’ of the Foundation Board became more grassroots-oriented — that video game room on the library’s main floor — Kahan’s circle no doubt circled in like a 1800s wagon train weathering a Native American assault.
Kahan, I think, is not without blame. My experience as an author is that through the years Kahan and his events crew became a kind of clique with authors they tended to favor and celebrate — and to blazes with the rest. Jennifer Weiner comes to mind; she became a Central superstar, appearing over and over again to the point of, “Not her again!”
The Author Series under Kahan’s direction also became a very woke enterprise; one almost never saw a conservative author but there was always rooms for an anti-Trump pundit, a George Stephanopoulos or a Stacey Abrams. This is not to say that the Board Foundation isn’t on the same page, yet with Kahan and company there was certainly no “equity and inclusion.”
One tell-tale sign of the friction between Kahan’s crew — who may have been perceived by Foundation leaders as white elitists — and the powers that be can, I think, be seen in recent videos of authors events there.
In recent months, Kahan, who almost always gave the majority of author introductions, seemed to be replaced by Foundation Board members who fumbled, looked at their notes too much, mispronounced words and who seemed generally nervous behind a podium. Not everyone is a public speaker — despite the claims of equity fans — even if you are a Foundation Board member with “connections.”
Kahan, his ivory tower elitist inclinations notwithstanding, was a master behind the podium
Thom Nickels is a Philadelphia-based journalist/columnist and the 2005 recipient of the AIA Lewis Mumford Award for Architectural Journalism. He writes for City Journal, New York, and Frontpage Magazine. Thom Nickels is the author of fifteen books, including “Literary Philadelphia” and ”From Mother Divine to the Corner Swami: Religious Cults in Philadelphia.” His latest, “Death in Philadelphia: The Murder of Kimberly Ernest” was released in May 2023.
Does anyone at Broad and Liberty fact check these columns before they get published, let alone Mr. Nickels? Mr. Nickels claimed that “Andy Kahan and his staff of three were given a 30-day termination notice by the Foundation Board based on the unknown “irreconcilable differences.” Yet in the NPR story Mr. Nickels linked in the article it states that “On Monday, four Free Library of Philadelphia staff members who run the renowned Author Events programs collectively submitted a one-month notice of their resignations.” Only to be fired a few hours later. So which is it?
Mr. Nickels stated that the Authors Staff were “White Elitists”; One tell-tale sign of the friction between Kahan’s crew — who may have been perceived by Foundation leaders as white elitists — and the powers that be can, I think, be seen in recent videos of authors events there.” So l looked at the Authors Events Facebook page and found a wide range of men and women representing many ethnicities and generations. ttps://www.facebook.com/authorevents/past_hosted_events
What this article boils down to is this, “one almost never saw a conservative author”. Organizations are not obligated to present authors that are not a good fit for their programs. Anymore than you would expect CPAC to have Bernie Sanders as the keynote speaker.
Comparing the Free Library Foundation to CPAC is quite telling and on-point, since both organizations’ programming is ideologically pure and designed only to flatter the prejudices of their blinkered constituencies. Well done!
“But then another rug was pulled out from under Kahan’s staff: almost immediately after the 30-day warning they found themselves locked out of their offices and email accounts.” What’s the problem? A.thirty day Notice means THIRTY Days.
The difference is that Mr. Nickels stated that ““Andy Kahan and his staff of three were given a 30-day termination notice by the Foundation Board”, In the WHYY article “On Monday, four Free Library of Philadelphia staff members who run the renowned Author Events programs collectively submitted a one-month notice of their resignations.”
The difference is is who actually gave the 30 day notice. Mr. Nickels has no proof of his claim and the WHYY article that he linked to does.
He seems to be more upset these guys were terminated (or quit e.g. WHYY)and denied access to their emails.I don’t know why, when you’re out you’re out.
Mr. Nickels is claiming the employer did it with no facts to back up his assertion and in the WHYY article that he linked to it was the employees he who gave notice and may have also done it for cause. It matters because if the employer fired them they did so for cause and then hours later terminated them. The employees are under no obligation to share any e-mails to someone as biased as Mr. Nickels, let alone in the event of lawsuit.
Why does this matter? Because Mr. Nickels is misleading his audience, especially when he claims that the Authors Events team are “White Elitists” which this link shows to the contrary. https://www.facebook.com/authorevents/past_hosted_events.
This has to be one of the worst written pieces of journalism I think I’ve ever encountered, especially on a situation like this. To have literal misinformation deviating from any other sources on the topic – in regards to the ‘30 day termination notice’ – on top of blatantly getting it wrong when you have an article cited which gets it right?? Does no one proofread these?
The tangent of Shelkrot towards the end of the article makes no sense whatsoever and reads like a high school student attempting to achieve complexity points, or even worse, a last minute ChatGPT submission.
I hope this sort of quality isn’t consistent with the rest of the Broad and Liberty catalogue.
Michael
This is not Mr. Nickels first time where he was used alternate facts when writing an article.
In 2001 he was a freelancer for the Philadelphia Inquirer where he published an article about the murder of of a gay man at Washington Square. He claimed that this murder was not covered by the news and that the reason this happened was because the man was gay. Neither Mr. Nickels or his editor fact checked the article. It turned out the story was made up and the Inquirer had to publish a 5 paragraph retraction.
This article managed to elicit a few new commentators! Points for that.
New commentators: Do any of you know why libraries have a “children’s section?” Weren’t those spaces supposed to be “safe spaces” for children? Will any of you explain to me why adults insist on gathering in the “children’s section” – rather than any other part of the library? Their goal is to undermine traditional notions of sexuality, replacing the biological family with the ideological family. Their purpose is to subvert the system of heteronormativity, which includes childhood innocence, and reengineer childhood sexuality from the ground up. They want to reformulate children’s relationship with sex, sexuality, and eroticism. The goal of drag, following the themes of Butler and Rubin, is to obliterate stable conceptions of gender through performativity and to rehabilitate the bottom of the sexual hierarchy through the elevation of the marginal.
I’m glad the Free Library of Philadelphia is at war with itself. The adults are nowhere to be found. To hell with you elite intellectual scum.
You’re right, you never know who might be a drag queen. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/us/robert-morris-gateway-church-sexual-abuse-allegations/index.html
lower-case judah,
I went to Catholic school for 20 years; yet, I am not a Catholic nor a Christian nor do I worship any Bronze-Age sky gods. God exists. Anyone who claims to be able to speak with authority about God is incorrect… including me. Who’s Robert Morris? Who’s the Gateway Church? Not interested. And the Drag Queens and every other political group should be allowed to gather in any public space they want. I love the LGBTQIA+ flag because the people flying it are telling me who they are up front. Same with the idiots that fly the “blue line” and “red line” flags. They all should get to march around every square inch of the library: Except not in the children’s section. The library itself once knew enough that they created the children’s section.
Real quick: If you think God took the time to show up in human form, as Jesus, to communicate with humans about humanity – is it logical to presume the God did the exact same thing with every other creature God created? Even demons? It is. Even the demons. We are talking about God. God is God. And life is pretty great. Even the hard parts.
“The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.” – Werner Heisenberg (father of Quantum Physics)
“Why are these adults pushing political propaganda inside the children’s section of the public library?” – a lot of innocent children
So you support the LGBTQ+ community and drag queens and yet your comment says otherwise.
“The goal of drag, following the themes of Butler and Rubin, is to obliterate stable conceptions of gender through performativity and to rehabilitate the bottom of the sexual hierarchy through the elevation of the marginal.”
I disagree with their aims and goals – but do I support their ability to gather in public spaces to express their freedom of speech. I disagree with the fools that fly the “thin blue line” and “red line” flags too, because it undermines Old Glory. But they should be able to fly those stupid flags, too, even if I find them odious.
What I SPECIFICALLY wrote was: “They all should get to march around every square inch of the library: Except not in the children’s section. The library itself once knew enough that they created the children’s section.”
We should all protect the children from these predators. The library itself created the children’s section for a reason. Here you go with your strawman arguments again though. I don’t have to like or agree with Draq Queen story hour to support their rights to free speech. It is their insistence to specifically invade the children’s section, and the libraries’ willingness to agree to these bullies’ dangerous requests of such. Let them perform their political movement and read their books in the adult section.
You don’t support their right to gather in public spaces according to your statement;
“Do any of you know why libraries have a “children’s section?” Weren’t those spaces supposed to be “safe spaces” for children? Will any of you explain to me why adults insist on gathering in the “children’s section” – rather than any other part of the library? Their goal is to undermine traditional notions of sexuality, replacing the biological family with the ideological family. Their purpose is to subvert the system of heteronormativity, which includes childhood innocence, and reengineer childhood sexuality from the ground up. They want to reformulate children’s relationship with sex, sexuality, and eroticism”
“We should all protect the children from these predators.” So which is it, do you support the LQBTQ+ community or are they sexual predators?
Judah – You are intentionally obtuse and insincere. I do not support the LGBTQIA+ agenda (many of those categories have absolutely nothing to do with each other they are lumped together in a bizarre acronym salad) HOWEVER I certainly support their rights to free speech in public spaces. The libraries themselves created safe spaces for children. The Drag Queen Story Hour is a political group that should not be having their political rallies in the children’s section of the public library. They can go anywhere else in the library – they insist on camping out in the children’s section because they are sexual predators. The library is shameful for allowing it. I’m glad they are imploding.