UNC libraries to forgo Christmas trees
Chapel Hill library chief says staffers complained about the display.


By Eric Ferreri


eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com
Posted: Friday, Dec. 05, 2008




Should public libraries present Christmas displays?
Yes, it is part of our culture.
5509 96%
No, government buildings should be religion neutral.
241 4%
Total Votes: 5750

CHAPEL HILL For as long as anyone can remember, Christmas trees adorned with lights and ornaments have greeted holiday season visitors to UNC Chapel Hill's two main libraries.

Not this year.

The trees, which have stood in the lobby areas of Wilson and Davis libraries each December, were kept in storage this year at the behest of Sarah Michalak, the associate provost for university libraries.

Michalak's decision followed several years of queries and complaints from library employees and patrons bothered by the Christian display, Michalak said this week.

Michalak said that banishing the Christmas displays was not an easy decision but that she asked around to library colleagues at Duke, N.C. State and elsewhere and found no other one where Christmas trees were displayed.

Aside from the fact that a UNC Chapel Hill library is a public facility, Michalak said, libraries are places where information from all corners of the world and all belief systems is offered without judgment. Displaying one particular religion's symbols is antithetical to that philosophy, she said.

“We strive in our collection to have a wide variety of ideas,â€