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>>> If my students benefit from public largesse and access, it’s because they challenge public institutions, asking why they are not free (like CUNY once was), demanding access to them, and questioning the way they work.

>> I'm not sure how to interpret this passage. That public libraries are only accessible thanks to her students "challenges" and demands?

> Yea, in general, representative republic policy is often form by those who complain the most/loudest.

That's true, but I don't think it salvages that passage. The loud complaints that got these students access may well have actually come from (likely dead) white do-gooders on a civilizing mission than from the students themselves.