Here Come the Spanish Professors

[Digetydog]

I really think it's critical to SMU's academic profile that we manage to get the SMU Press running once more, and in a better fashion than before. The professor is absolutely right. Presses can really push universities forward and it's something which needs more support from those in power/wealthy alumni. So even though I know that boosters are paying for the basketball coaches, the professor's argument is still valid. I just think he comes off as a bit of a damned fool by being so hyperbolic. Going to hell in a handbasket? Maybe he should volunteer as the head person in charge in fundraising for the press, just as Orsini took it upon himself to find people willing to fund the new staff.

If truly dynamic, I might agree with you. If we have a mediocre setup, it is not worth doing.
Unfortunately, so many schools have so many "university" presses that an enormous number of books are published that are never bought or read by a significant number of people. Since authors now have the option of self publishing e-books at very little cost, I do not see the need for universities to subsidize what is largely a vanity publication.

Let's look at the Spring 2012 offerings from the TCU Press: http://www.prs.tcu.edu/spring12.html. Reading the descriptions, there doesn't appear to be a great work in that group.

Honestly, unless you're in academia for the disciplines represented in that link, who are you to say those works aren't great? That's for people in academia to determine. And that's what presses are, an outlet by academicians, for academicians. A university press isn't supposed to be Scholastic, or Random House, or Pearson. They have a different goal, and they're not out to publish the most NYTimes Best Sellers.

I was blessed with the opportunity to take a course from Charles Alan Wright. Professor Wright was THE authority on Federal Courts and his work has been cited in court opinions, legal briefs, and scholarly work thousands of times. His research and scholarship was important b/c other scholars in his field recognized his greatness.

Having said that, all scholarship is not great scholarship. Plenty of stuff is published for the sole purpose of giving the author something to for their CV. While I would never expect any book published by the TCU or SMU Press to be popular hits, I don't think it is unreasonable to demand that their book projects to be important enough to attract attention from someone. If the works aren't being utilized by other scholars in the relevant fields of study, they are not worth printing.

As another poster noted, SMU finds the money to support important projects. If the SMU Press was doing important work, the school would have found the money in the budget or found donors to foot the bill.

[CalallenStang]

It was stupid to cut the budget for the Press two years ago, and Ludden's decision to do so rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

That being said, it's a completely independent decision from the basketball program's budget.

[Cardinal Puff]

When does SMU get a Circle of Literati?

[SMU89]

No comprende

[Comet]

When does SMU get a Circle of Literati?

Letters don't equal money so that's going to be tough!

[gostangs]

i think Ludden was correct to ditch it. just because it was around forever doesn't mean it was particularly good. it had gotten obscure and fairly pointless.

[leopold]

Sigh.

I've got to be the voice of dissent on this.

He's right, only he presented his argument horribly. He never should have brought sports into it - or rather, he should have used it as an example of finding a private booster to finance what was not a mediocre press - it was an EXCELLENT press. They published high-end literature and were nationally known for it. That 'Circle of Literati' idea, seriously, was the right way to go.

I was an English major and this is the kind of thing, amongst others, that separates SMU from the UNT's and Texas Tech's - and yes, TCU's - of the world. Just because the average person on the street, or even the average SMU grad, doesn't know about it doesn't mean it was mediocre:

If the works aren't being utilized by other scholars in the relevant fields of study, they are not worth printing.

Keep in mind, this is the same argument that others have used to try to kill our athletics program - "nobody cares so just put it out of it's misery." Sometimes you have to take chances, build, and show vision.

DAMNIT - they should have CALLED Steve Orsini and ASKED HIM HOW TO RAISE MONEY - I GUARANTEE you there is more than enought money in the SMU and Dallas community to keep this thing running.

WE ARE SMU! We can do both!

[redpony]

Hey leo- I agree completely. When you start comparing things to sports programs you automatically start off on the wrong foot. I am sure there are many benefactors who would support a 'press' program if approached properly.

[Comet]

Sigh.

I've got to be the voice of dissent on this.

He's right, only he presented his argument horribly. He never should have brought sports into it - or rather, he should have used it as an example of finding a private booster to finance what was not a mediocre press - it was an EXCELLENT press. They published high-end literature and were nationally known for it. That 'Circle of Literati' idea, seriously, was the right way to go.

I was an English major and this is the kind of thing, amongst others, that separates SMU from the UNT's and Texas Tech's - and yes, TCU's - of the world. Just because the average person on the street, or even the average SMU grad, doesn't know about it doesn't mean it was mediocre:

If the works aren't being utilized by other scholars in the relevant fields of study, they are not worth printing.

Keep in mind, this is the same argument that others have used to try to kill our athletics program - "nobody cares so just put it out of it's misery." Sometimes you have to take chances, build, and show vision.

DAMNIT - they should have CALLED Steve Orsini and ASKED HIM HOW TO RAISE MONEY - I GUARANTEE you there is more than enought money in the SMU and Dallas community to keep this thing running.

WE ARE SMU! We can do both!

Amen to all of this

*signed, another liberal arts major*

[Digetydog]

Sigh.

I've got to be the voice of dissent on this.

He's right, only he presented his argument horribly. He never should have brought sports into it - or rather, he should have used it as an example of finding a private booster to finance what was not a mediocre press - it was an EXCELLENT press. They published high-end literature and were nationally known for it. That 'Circle of Literati' idea, seriously, was the right way to go.

I was an English major and this is the kind of thing, amongst others, that separates SMU from the UNT's and Texas Tech's - and yes, TCU's - of the world. Just because the average person on the street, or even the average SMU grad, doesn't know about it doesn't mean it was mediocre:

If the works aren't being utilized by other scholars in the relevant fields of study, they are not worth printing.

Keep in mind, this is the same argument that others have used to try to kill our athletics program - "nobody cares so just put it out of it's misery." Sometimes you have to take chances, build, and show vision.

DAMNIT - they should have CALLED Steve Orsini and ASKED HIM HOW TO RAISE MONEY - I GUARANTEE you there is more than enought money in the SMU and Dallas community to keep this thing running.

WE ARE SMU! We can do both!

Amen to all of this

*signed, another liberal arts major*

If it was that good, I take back what I said. Excellence should always be funded. They need a new director with some fundraising skills.

[Stallion]

This is funny.
Writer misdirects anger toward SMU Basketball
Poster misdirects anger toward SMU Faculty-this guy is a writer for the DMN-not an SMU teacher

[couch 'em]

This is funny.
Writer misdirects anger toward SMU Basketball
Poster misdirects anger toward SMU Faculty-this guy is a writer for the DMN-not an SMU teacher

You can be sure they are all in league with each other. They are all one corpus that must be destroyed.

[MustangSTATS]

This is funny.
Writer misdirects anger toward SMU Basketball
Poster misdirects anger toward SMU Faculty-this guy is a writer for the DMN-not an SMU teacher

Bingo.

Seems our real need right now for academic advancement is more access to scientific journals. $400,000 a more a year in journal subscriptions would probably help SMU more than 10 obscure hard copy books a year (not to mention how quickly physical books are becoming antiquated). But journal prices have been getting out of hand, and even Harvard is saying they cannot keep up with the runaway cost [$3.75M yearly].

[leopold]

Uh-uh. This isn't a case of liberal arts vs. science, either. We are raising $750M, building a damn pool, we CAN find $400000.

[Comet]

This is funny.
Writer misdirects anger toward SMU Basketball
Poster misdirects anger toward SMU Faculty-this guy is a writer for the DMN-not an SMU teacher

Bingo.

Seems our real need right now for academic advancement is more access to scientific journals. $400,000 a more a year in journal subscriptions would probably help SMU more than 10 obscure hard copy books a year (not to mention how quickly physical books are becoming antiquated). But journal prices have been getting out of hand, and even Harvard is saying they cannot keep up with the runaway cost [$3.75M yearly].

I also see a lot of hard copy vs. e-copy when it comes to the debate about university presses. Something to also keep in mind, the value of the press is also that it is a peer reviewed publication. It's pretty much what differentiates the work of an amateur historian (insert whatever discipline here) and a professional one. Therefore, it's still important when presses such as Harvard, Yale, Cal, Chicago, UNC, etc, seem to publish their newer works electronically. I'd like to see a study on the expenditures of running a press. I would wager that not all that much of it is the actual physical printing and binding of books (I think).