Thread by @tsmullaney

.@Stanford Provost Persis Drell has just released the report re: @stanfordpress by her hand-picked comm. The other committee reviewing SUP, appointed by Stanford Faculty Senate, is still conducting its investigation. Read Provost report here: provost.stanford.edu/wp-content/upl… @aupresses

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses cc @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle "While the relationship between Stanford and its Press has some elements of the most successful presses, both the University and the Press have failed systematically to aspire to, and reach, this standard."

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle (Hopefully this quote does not augur a report which tries to lay blame "equally" between @Stanford and @stanfordpress which would be a distortion). Reading on...

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle "A better relationship would entail the University administration committing to longer-term support for the Press, and helping to devise institutional structures that would lead to wider engagement by faculty, administrators, and publishing experts with it."

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle Darn RIGHT!!! "Throughout our discussions this summer, we have been struck by the eagerness among all stakeholders to see Stanford University Press thrive."

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle Peculiar characterization of @UChicagoPress : "At Chicago, their top set of books derive from their association with the National Bureau of Economic Research, followed by their series on poetry." Throws into Q how comm examined presses in general?

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle @UChicagoPress I really hope this isn't going where I fear it's going... "We found that presses varied in the academic ranks of their
authors. Stanford has more assistant professors among its authors than most other presses: 33 percent. ... At MIT... only 13 percent from assistant professors."

@Stanford @stanfordpress @aupresses @gewang @palumboliu @adriandaub @chronicle @UChicagoPress Yup, it went there: "First books rarely make money, although they may establish relationships that will pay off later. Developing a more balanced list of authors could increase the Press's financial stability as well as its stature."

Blaming low-revenue "first books" for @stanfordpress troubles instead of (a) systemic underfunding; (b) restricted freedom to fundraise; (c) paltry endowment...???????????

@stanfordpress In an amazing twist, the Provost's hand-picked comm is recommending that @stanfordpress report to... wait for it... the Provost! (instead of the head of @StanfordLibs )

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs And on top of that the Provost's comm, whose charge was rife with "MBA-speak" from the outset, is recommending an additional reporting structure for @stanfordpress - i.e., that the press should report "additionally to one of two budget officers"

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs Thus far we have *nothing* in the report about support for the press. Only about reporting changes. A belief that the present crisis is one of reporting structures???

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs Comm recommends creation of Ad Board in which Provost + VP Business Affairs would permanent members of 12-person ad board to "guide... all matters respecting @stanfordpress "

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs 20 pages into to a 26-page Provost comm. report on @stanfordpress and thus far the entire thing is about reporting structure and governance. "Finance" has only now appeared for the first time! Stay tuned!

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs This is a profound understatement: "Some of the more financially successful presses have been able to diversify their revenue sources. Johns Hopkins and MIT publish successful journals..." @JHUPress has @ProjectMUSE for Heaven's Sake!

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs @JHUPress @ProjectMUSE Understatement #2: ""Some central university support is not uncommon for university presses whose sole focus is book sales."

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs @JHUPress @ProjectMUSE p. 21 of a 26-page report, a key issue FINALLY appears! 1/2: "@Harvard_Press @PrincetonUPress @yalepress also rely exclusively on book sales, but these peers benet from substantial endowment support, providing between 15-25 % of their total budget. 1/2

p. 21 of a 26-page report, the key issue FINALLY appears! 2/2: "@stanfordpress , in contrast, has a tiny endowment that provides only 4% percent of its budget."

@stanfordpress Right after introducing this truth, snaps right back to the completely misplaced & inaccurate MBA-speak, referring to SUP "structural deficit" - When @Stanford starves @stanfordpress it is NOT a "structural deficit" - it's NEGLECT

@stanfordpress @Stanford Finally, finally, finally, an *actual* indication of support in the report, deep on page 23! "@Stanford should continue to
provide a financial backstop for @stanfordpress for at least another 5 years."

@stanfordpress @Stanford "The amount of support should be in the range of 1.5-1.7 million, which is a comparable level of support that the Press has received in the past."

@stanfordpress @Stanford "To signal support, we recommend that in this budget year, a substantial portion of this support, around 500,000 dollars, immediately be converted to base funding to demonstrate to the community the University's ongoing commitment to the Press."

@stanfordpress @Stanford "@stanfordpress should be given the opportunity to fund-raise for 10 million dollars... The Development Office should be tasked with helping them in this endeavor."
YES!, but the # should not be capped. Let the press grow and stabilize itself PERMANENTLY.

@stanfordpress @Stanford In sum, pages 1-23 = things the Provost and Chair of the Provost's comm wanted all along; pages 24-26 actually deal with the real problem/suggest a serious commitment to the press. I hope very much that the other/Senate comm is hard at work to improve and balance this.

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs Curious to know: If, God forbid, one of your Provost's/senior reports took an openly adversarial stance vis-a-vis you, what safeguards would you have to protect yourself, @mitpress @JHUPress @Harvard_Press @ucpress @UChicagoPress @NorthwesternUP @NYUpress @yalepress ...?

@stanfordpress @StanfordLibs @mitpress @JHUPress @Harvard_Press @ucpress @UChicagoPress @NorthwesternUP @NYUpress @yalepress (I know you can't answer that online)

@stanfordpress @Stanford Lastly, as emphasized by a not-to-be-named colleague, the report's goal of having more "peer institution" authors publish with @stanfordpress is offensive. Comm admits it's an "imperfect metric" but then goes on to recommend it! /1

Most scholars don't work at US News top-10 R1 schools. So @stanfordpress should avoid authors from Dartmouth, Brown, Notre Dame, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Wash U, UCLA, ... ??? Again, this is not the problem! The problem has been systemic neglect by @Stanford towards its press