Dive Summary:
- As a response to deep budget cuts, the University of New Orleans plans to put its publishing operation on hiatus and has already eliminated the job of the operation's director.
- The news comes at a time when many in academia are worried about the future of university presses and several universities have already closed their publishing operations citing tight budgets.
- The University of New Orleans' press is best known for publishing literature in translation, poetry and Louisiana-related material, and a petition started last week listed prize-winning books in these areas, where other presses have pulled back.
From the article:
The University of New Orleans has eliminated the job of the director of its university press, and plans to put the publishing operation on a "hiatus." A university spokesman declined to confirm the plan, except to say that the institution is facing a new round of deep budget cuts, and that officials would announce this week how to respond to the cuts. The spokesman also suggested that it would not be correct to say that any final decision had been made, and that the university would have no further comment. But the dean of arts and sciences -- in an e-mail to the director, obtained by Inside Higher Ed -- states that "we have put the press on hiatus." ...