AMHERST — Supporters of the Jones Library building project are condemning a letter sent to both the Trump administration and National Endowment for the Humanities requesting termination of a $1 million grant going toward build-out of a humanities center within the expanded building. 

On Monday morning, Jeff Lee of South East Street sent an email titled “Waste in NEH Infrastructure grant CHA-292057 Jones Library Humanities Center” to NEH officials and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led initiative seeking to cut federal spending. Lee is a member of the steering committee for a community group called the Amherst Historic Preservation Coalition, which has been active in outlining issues it has with the $46.1 million project to expand and renovate the library, which has received favorable votes from the Town Council several times and nearly two-thirds support in a townwide vote in November 2021.

The letter comes on the heels of a bid protest, which was recently filed with the state attorney general’s office, aiming to hold up the signing of a contract with Fontaine Brothers Inc. of Springfield to be the general contractor for the project. Fontaine is the lowest eligible bidder to handle the project.

Town Manager Paul Bockelman said Tuesday that the attorney general’s office will determine if a hearing is needed on the bid protest, similar to how it proceeded with a hearing to deal with three bid protests filed on the elementary school project.

Bockelman has until April 30, what he said is an “immutable deadline,” to have a contract signed.

In a town with values not in alignment with the Trump administration, where policies are the subject of regular protests and where fewer than 10% of voters cast ballots for the current president last November, Ginny Hamilton, the campaign manager for the capital campaign, said Lee’s letter is inappropriate.

“I am beyond angry that, in our supposedly progressive community, individuals are making use of hate-filled federal policies to advance their personal agendas,” Hamilton wrote in an email.

For Hamilton, the sections in the letter where Lee has concerns with the Civil War tablets being placed in the new humanities center and the gender-neutral bathrooms being installed nearby are particularly problematic, as they fly in the face of the town’s inclusiveness, recognizing the Black residents who gave their lives to freedom and meeting the needs of gender-neutral people.

Ancestral Bridges Founder Anika Lopes, a former member of the Town Council, said Lee’s letter “crossed the line” and she finds it “very disgusting” that someone concerned with the library project would try to find an alliance with an administration that is hostile to Amherst’s values that promote diversity and equity.

“This letter is about supporting the administration’s erasure of folks, the assault on arts and culture, the assault on immigration,” said Lopes, who has been a champion of the humanities center.

In calling for cancellation of the grant, Lee writes that the project “has been based on incomplete information, lacks cost-justification, contributes to the damage of a historical landmark, squeezes out more important spending priorities, and drives a larger and more costly project that will unduly require close to $50 million in federal, state and local public funds.”

He also makes note that the humanities center will include dedicated exhibit space for five 600-pound marble tablets with the inscribed names of Amherst’s Civil War veterans: “It would be more appropriate to build an outdoor display for these war memorials as is typically done in other communities, allowing the tablets to be viewed at any time of day, seven days a week, including holidays when the library is closed.”

While Lee doesn’t reference the Black soldiers from the famed 54th Regiment, the tablets have evolved since being put on display in the Bangs Community Center a few years ago, where Debora Bridges offers guided tours and has a detailed account that enhances the only town monument inclusive of the story of the Black and Indigenous populations.

Another aspect of Lee’s letter draws attention to the decision for gender-inclusive bathrooms: “I personally do not object to all-gender restrooms, but question the cost justification of transitioning from existing gender-specific restrooms to gender-neutral facilities in the humanities center,” Lee wrote.

Lee, though, observes in the letter that such awards should only be terminated in certain cases.

“To be fully candid, I do not support indiscriminate cancellation of NEH grants, and I have found NEH staff to be responsive and professional in answering my questions,” he wrote.

Bockelman said he received a copy of the letter, but otherwise wouldn’t comment on its contents.

Lee wrote in an email that, aside from Bockelman, only federal government officials received his letter. He would rather have officials take the letter under advisement instead of circulating it in the community.

Lopes said it is horrible to see people who would normally be protesting Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan seeking help from his administration as a way of stopping the library project.

“It’s incredibly shameful, this is not OK, the sacrificing of values, and putting people at risk by doing this,” Lopes said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.