The provost will hear a proposal on restructuring Northwestern’s University Press next week after the publishing company lost nearly $1 million – $300,000 more than expected – in the 2001 fiscal year, administrators and budget officials said Wednesday.
The loss comes as the University Press has printed more books than it can sell, the chairman of its board tried to resign and its editorial offices are divided between the Evanston and Chicago campuses.
University Press reported a loss of $877,000 on revenues of $1.54 million. With expenses totaling $2.42 million, NU’s planned subsidy of $577,000 fell short, NU Budget Director James Elsass said.
Press Board Chairman Peter Hayes and board member David Bishop will meet next week with Provost Lawrence Dumas to discuss a plan of action, Bishop said. Dumas oversees press operations.
The board started considering ways to limit spending in October, when budget figures were determined, Elsass said. Those figures pushed board members to consider publishing a more selective slate of books and to improve management, Elsass said.
“It’s basically (a matter of) coming up with some tighter management ground rules on what they publish and how many copies they publish,” Elsass said. “We’re certainly trying to come up with a better mix of publications relative to their sales. We’re trying to find things that will sell and produce revenue.”
University President Henry Bienen told The Daily in an e-mail that the university has made no decision about the press but has discussed changing its structure.
“There have been many discussions concerning NU Press but absolutely no decision has been made to close the press,” Bienen wrote. “I do think there will be some reconfiguration of the press, but it is premature to say how or when.”
Hayes, who also is a history professor, told The Daily earlier this month that he had stepped down from the board. Dumas said at the time that he would not accept the resignation and added that he hoped the board could resolve its problems. Dumas declined to comment Tuesday evening.
Despite limited resources, NU’s press maintains a reputation of excellence in several fields, said faculty from NU and other universities.
Works from NU’s press dominate the field of literature in translation and also excel in avant garde pieces, Slavic literature and philosophy – fields that aren’t always profitable, said Alan Thomas, University of Chicago Press editorial director for humanities and sciences.
“It’s a small press, but of all the university presses it’s the one with the strongest and most important program in literature in translation,” Thomas said. “It’s very difficult to break even with that kind of publishing, but it’s very worthwhile and something that deserves support.”
Recent problems with the press’s management have included overprinting, Elsass said.
“We ended up printing too many copies, and then we have to write down the inventory because we can’t sell that,” Elsass said. “They’re in our store room and we can’t sell them for what it cost to produce. It’s an asset you have to write down.”
This is not the first time the University Press has faced financial difficulties since being founded in 1893. After a wave of cutbacks hit university presses across the country in the early 1970s, NU’s press closed for several years. It reopened in 1983.
NU’s press often suffers because it lacks the safety net other university presses rely on, said Prof. Reginald Gibbons, an editor of NU-published TriQuarterly Books.
“When sales decline, the press is very vulnerable because it does not have an endowment or back-up fund that other well-established presses have and is dependent on the administration for support,” Gibbons said.
University of Chicago Prof. Richard Stern chose to have his novel “Pacific Tremors” published at NU after a more mainstream New York publisher rejected it, he said. He praised the press for its non-bureaucratic and intimate setting.
“I would feel there was a great hole in the literary carpet of American literature if the NU press were allowed to go under,” Stern said. “They have done wonderful things with and for my book. I wish Bill Gates or somebody would take a thimbleful of their money and dump it this way.”
Slavic Language and Literature Prof. Clare Cavanagh said that if NU’s press shuts down, she might not be able to find the texts she uses in her classes in the fields of 20th century gender and literature in translation. Elite standing in a field should not be sacrificed for money, she said.
“The first thing everybody registers about NU in big-name literary circles is the press,” Cavanagh said. “It’s something I’m concerned about, obviously. I think it’s unusual for university presses to make money, but major research universities basically have to have a press, for the prestige.”
