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Utah State U. Press Is ‘Marked for Elimination’ Under Worst-Case Budget Scenario

By  Jennifer Howard
January 20, 2009

Utah State University Press may become the first academic-press casualty of the current economic crisis.

The press will not learn its fate until late March, when the Utah Legislature makes its final decisions on the budget for the 2010 fiscal year—including how much money will be designated for higher education in the state. But the press’s director, Michael Spooner, told The Chronicle that the threat of closure was all too real.

He said that Raymond T. Coward, the university’s provost, had “candidly” laid out the worst-case scenario in a meeting with the press’s faculty board last week. “We are definitely among those campus units marked for elimination if the state budget goes as badly for Utah higher education as it might,” Mr. Spooner said.

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Utah State University Press may become the first academic-press casualty of the current economic crisis.

The press will not learn its fate until late March, when the Utah Legislature makes its final decisions on the budget for the 2010 fiscal year—including how much money will be designated for higher education in the state. But the press’s director, Michael Spooner, told The Chronicle that the threat of closure was all too real.

He said that Raymond T. Coward, the university’s provost, had “candidly” laid out the worst-case scenario in a meeting with the press’s faculty board last week. “We are definitely among those campus units marked for elimination if the state budget goes as badly for Utah higher education as it might,” Mr. Spooner said.

Mr. Coward could not be reached for comment on Monday. But Mr. Spooner said that both the provost and the university’s president, Stan L. Albrecht, had been strong supporters of the press.

The provost “believes that we are underfunded,” Mr. Spooner said. “I’m not at war with my administration here. I respect these guys, and if they say they cannot afford to support the press anymore, I will faithfully shut down the press.”

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Financial Pressure

Utah, like many states, is considering deep cuts in its higher-education budget because of the recession. At a meeting with legislators last week, Mr. Albrecht said he anticipated having to cut as many as 600 jobs, including some tenure-track faculty positions, according to a report in The Salt Lake Tribune.

Mr. Spooner said he understands the financial pressures the university faces and the difficult decisions its administration may have to make, as well as the intellectual impact cuts are likely to have. “I feel nothing but sympathy for the guys who have to make these calls,” he said. “But our president is saying that should the Legislature’s cuts be passed, it would set this university back a generation. Our provost is saying two generations.”

One of the smaller university presses, Utah State University Press publishes 20 books a year, with a focus on folklore, English composition, and regional studies, including Mormon and Native American history as well as natural history. The university provides office space, and covers salaries and benefits for three-and-a-half of the press’s five or so staff positions.

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Mr. Spooner said that, except for the salary assistance, his press pays its own way. “We cover all costs of operations and publishing 20 books a year through sales income, permissions, donations, and our annual Swenson Poetry Award,” he said. “At the same time, without the salary support, we cannot go on.”

Scholarly Recognition

Money is one thing. How does one put a dollar value on the intellectual cachet a press brings to its home institution? Mr. Spooner speaks passionately about the nonmonetary value his press adds, and how its books and authors help make Utah State University part of a larger conversation.

Garrison Keillor read from a Utah State title last week on his “Writer’s Almanac” show, the director noted, and “scholars in folklore and composition and Mormon history often say explicitly that the only important contact they have with USU is through our books. These are not marginal fields, but they are also not overserved by publishers. Without USU Press, important research and theory will be lost.”

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He fears that point may be hard to convey to the number crunchers. “The budget planners’ model defines us as a nonessential unit because we are a not a degree-granting unit. I understand,” Mr. Spooner said. “What they don’t understand is how it would cost our institution in terms of its reputation, image, and impact to close us.

“I have heard of closing university presses in trouble for long-term deficits or for lack of impact, but I have never seen a press closed that was operationally sound, financially stable, and overachieving its given mission.”

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Scholarship & Research
Jennifer Howard
Jennifer Howard, who began writing for The Chronicle in 2005, covered publishing, scholarly communication, libraries, archives, digital humanities, humanities research, and technology.
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