Got word today that Louisiana’s state budget woes could force LSU Press to close. Supporters are rallying people to the cause, asking them to tell the LSU administration and the state legislature how important the press is to the intellectual life of the university and the state. I took some heat from a commenter on the Chronicle’s news blog about my choice of the phrase “might get the ax” to describe the danger LSU Press faces. I’d say that if a you cut a press’s subsidy with the knowledge that doing so is likely to force it to close, you are de facto giving it the ax. Quibble if you like.
I wish I could say that I didn’t expect to be writing more stories like this in the weeks and months ahead. We should know soon about Utah State UP’s fate. Maybe LSU Press will pull through. I hope so. It has a long, honorable tradition of publishing high-quality literature and scholarship with a Southern flavor, and it would be sad to see it go.
