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>From the issue dated September 20, 2002
CHE
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  The Crumbling Intellectual Foundation
Budget cuts for libraries, university presses, journals, and culture =
combine
to threaten the infrastructure on which professors and students depend

By SCOTT SMALLWOOD

When money is scarce, some basic needs lose out to others. We see it in =
our=20
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ALSO SEE:

Erosion by the Numbers

A University Library Painfully Cancels Hundreds of Journal =
Subscriptions

University Presses Take Different Approaches to Making Cuts

A History Department Faces Larger Classes, Fewer Visitors, and Less =
Travel

The Pathbreaking, Fractionalized, Uncertain World of Knowledge


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homes and cities. That aging roof may not be replaced, that cracking
pavement may be ignored. The same thing happens at colleges as they =
deal
with deteriorating classrooms, outdated computers, neglected =
landscaping.
But beneath higher education's physical world, academe is supported by =
an
intellectual life of research, writing, editing, publishing, reading, =
and
culture. The recession and the ensuing budget cuts at colleges are =
chipping
away at that foundation.

During the downturn, some budget items, predictably, have received the
lion's share of attention: faculty salaries, tuition rates, and =
construction
spending. In many cases, officials have attempted to keep salaries
competitive or to minimize tuition increases. But the budget items that
support intellectual life are much smaller and much more vulnerable, so =
many
academics believe they will not be able to bounce back when the economy
recovers.

"Imagine that flush times return in 2006," says Michael B=E9rub=E9, an =
English
professor at Pennsylvania State University at University Park. "I can't
believe any state legislator will be saying, 'OK, now let's pour money =
back
into the library.' That's not going to happen."

And so, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's library, as at
others, the talk is of "inventing a new library." The library lost =
about 20
percent of its staff and saw its acquisitions budget shrink by more =
than
$1-million. It canceled 1,000 journal subscriptions and cut back on =
buying
books.

"We're trying to make choices," says Margo Crist, director of library
services. "What are we going to invest in and what are we going to =
downsize
or eliminate?" But she does not think that's a decision for the library =
to
make alone. "The campus is going to have to help us decide what they =
want in
a library. We won't be able to serve everyone."

This imperiled infrastructure is interconnected. As libraries buy fewer
books, the university presses -- already hurting from a shifting =
publishing
landscape -- see their balance sheets getting redder and redder. A =
decade
ago, "you could sell 800 to 900 copies of anything, and I mean =
anything,"
says Beatrice Rehl, an art-history and classics editor at Cambridge
University Press. She is rejecting many more books than she used to.
"There's no way I can make the numbers work," she says. "I can't charge =
$100
for a 260-page book." Libraries that once had standing orders to buy
everything a certain press published are picking and choosing more
carefully. At other places, like the University of California, one copy =
of a
book is being purchased for the entire system, instead of copies for =
each
campus.

Other than feeling sorry for librarians and press directors, why should =
the
rest of us care? What's really lost? A look at how these changes have
rippled through academe suggests that the cuts threaten the =
intellectual
infrastructure, undermining the liberal arts that have long been =
considered
a cornerstone of Western, and particularly American, higher education.
"Universities encourage venture- capital thinking," says Kenneth A.
Wissoker, editor in chief of the Duke University Press. "That means =
it's
easier to get money for projects that don't exist. ... There's less =
concern
about what upholds the institutions that we depend on."

All of the changes have filtered down to faculty members and their =
students.
Consider Paul Babbitt, a young political-science professor at Southern
Arkansas University. He would like to do more research, but his library =
is
struggling to support it. He clings to the rumor that the library might
finally be getting access to JSTOR, a database of more than 200 =
journals. In
the meantime, he stops by the library at Rutgers University at New =
Brunswick
whenever he visits his parents.

Mr. Babbitt also tells his seniors that they must start their thesis
research early, because they will need to request many books through
interlibrary loan.=20

"My book budget might be sufficient to buy the new books I need," he =
says.
"But I can't catch up on books that we don't have."

As presses cut back on titles or, like the University of California, =
cancel
a respected series on philosophy, professors and graduate students will =
find
it harder and harder to get published, and get tenure. That trickles =
down to
the advice undergraduates get, says Anthony T. Grafton, a professor of
history at Princeton University. "There are many kids that I know who =
are
bright, but when they ask [other professors] about graduate school, =
they're
told, 'Oh, no. Don't even consider it.'"

Given the decentralized nature of this infrastructure, it is nearly as
difficult to discern the extent of the damage as the reasons for =
staving it
off. Part of that stems from the difficulty of putting a price tag on =
the
liberal arts. Defenders find themselves in a familiar position. =
"Knowledge
in the liberal arts is crucial for practical reasons," says Stanley N. =
Katz,
a Princeton professor and former president of the American Council of
Learned Societies. "We need language skills. We need basic science. ... =
This
is the utility of useless knowledge. It's not useless. We give up =
something
very important if we starve the liberal arts."

But in a world where many universities have positioned themselves as
economic-development engines -- to please state legislators, =
businesses, or
donors -- technology and vocationalism have eclipsed and, in some =
sense,
cheapened intellectual life. "A lot of things that underpin the academy
weren't made to be evaluated on a cost-benefit basis independently, as =
if
they were part of a corporation," says Mr. Wissoker, of the Duke press. =
It's
vital, he explains, "that when Northwestern says, 'We don't want to
translate these Eastern Europeans before they win their Nobel Prizes,' =
then
someone else would say, 'But that's really important.'"

But that has become an uphill battle as the humanities and soft =
sciences
have lost out to a stalled economy and, increasingly, the hard =
sciences. The
life sciences, for example, are basking in the glow of a near doubling =
in
federal funds for the National Institutes of Health over the last four
years, to a total of more than $23-billion.

Other scientific fields can bank on corporate support, state money, or =
even
big donors who want to direct their giving to science and technology. =
Last
spring, for example, the Walton family (of Wal-Mart Stores) pledged
$300-million to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with the =
goal of
sparking economic development in the state. Humanities professors were
demoralized when they were told they probably would be ineligible for =
any of
the money.

Even the sciences lose out with the erosion of the base. Robert L. =
Park, a
physics professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and
public-information director for the American Physical Society, says
universities reflect public sentiment.=20

"We tend to not honor scholars right now," he says. "We honor people =
who
risk their lives or make enormous profits or invent gadgets that are =
useful.
... But for whatever reason, knowledge for knowledge's sake doesn't =
have
much currency."

Indeed, Princeton's Mr. Grafton wonders whether academe's great erudite
programs, like Brown University's history-of-mathematics program or the
University of Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, could be developed =
in
the current budget climate. "Those are things institutions could be =
sold on
50 years ago, but we wouldn't create such a thing now," he says. "We =
talk
about being bold and experimental, but my sense is that higher =
education was
bolder 40 years ago."

Not every library is facing the budget knife, but the list of those =
that are
is long. At the University of Idaho, the library lost five positions,
including 3 of 21 librarians. The library also cut 130 out of some =
5,000
journals, as its budget was slashed by 5.5 percent. If the state =
economy
doesn't improve, the library may lose another 6 percent next year. =
"We've
brought in lots of new faculty coming from places like Berkeley, and =
they're
saying, 'You don't have this? Berkeley had this,'" says Ron Force, dean =
of
library services.

At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the library's acquisition =
budget
has remained flat and no staff positions have been cut. Kenneth =
Frazier, the
library director, says he does not fear that Wisconsin will ever be =
unable
to afford the "core academic literature." But in the long term, a level =
or
declining budget will reduce the quality of the research holdings.=20

"As the buying power of the library budget shrinks, our collections =
become
less deep, less interesting, and less inspiring," he says.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, librarians are =
preparing
for a budget trim of 5 or maybe even 10 percent. In the short term, the
library can weather the cuts, says Joe Hewitt, the university =
librarian, but
he fears what the future will bring. "The tendency will be to do =
everything
to protect core services to current faculty and students," he says. =
"And
what might go would be preparing for the future, doing the collecting =
that
we do to preserve the cultural record."

In the world of academic presses, the biggest recent headlines have =
covered
changes at Northwestern, whose director was fired for failing to meet =
budget
targets, and at the University of California, where critically =
acclaimed
series have been canned. But other presses have suffered as well.

The University of New Mexico Press has laid off 6 of its 26 employees,
citing a deficit of more than $1.9-million. At the University of =
Illinois
Press, two positions are being lost and Willis G. Regier, the director, =
says
he hopes to save money by enforcing page limits. The days of =
contracting for
a 400-page book but receiving 700 pages are over. "We're going to be a =
whole
lot stricter," he says. "It will affect our decision to do long books =
in
general. We hope to avoid cutting the size of our list, but we're =
attempting
to be more conscious about price upfront."

University museums, another part of the intellectual foundation, are =
also
taking a hit. The University of Kansas has closed the public exhibition
space at its respected Museum of Anthropology. At the College of =
William and
Mary, budget cuts nearly shut down the Muscarelle Museum of Art, but =
the
trustees eventually decided not to withdraw all of the college's money. =
The
museum, financed with college and private donations, will cut its =
operating
budget in half and eliminate two staff positions, including the =
director's
post.

Les Reker, the departing president of the Association of College and
University Museums and Galleries, says he knows it's a clich=E9 to =
lament the
neglect of the arts in bad fiscal times. "But it's true," he says. "The
trend toward vocationalism is there. The liberal arts are being =
trampled,
and an art museum is a way to keep it alive."

Literary journals and cultural magazines are also not receiving the =
support
they once enjoyed. Duke University Press has decided to stop publishing
Transition, a hybrid academic journal and cultural magazine of Harvard
University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research. A =
press
official has said producing that type of journal -- replete with =
photographs
-- is "beyond the means of a university press in these financial =
times."

Meanwhile, the New Art Examiner, a respected magazine of art and =
culture,
closed this summer after three decades because the money had dried up. =
And
in Massachusetts, DoubleTake, an award-winning quarterly founded by
Harvard's Robert Coles, is struggling to stay alive. Dependent on
foundations and donors, it has seen gifts plummet with the recession.

Not everyone in the liberal and fine arts is feeling the effects of the
downturn. Most academic associations say they are fine: Memberships are
steady, and conference attendance, despite travel cutbacks in many
departments, is not declining.

And some in higher education see no threats at all to the intellectual
foundation. Frank Newman, a former president of the University of Rhode
Island and of the Education Commission of the States, says that it is a
legitimate concern, but that academics always worry in times of =
economic
troubles. "I don't see a particular pressure to get rid of knowledge =
for
knowledge's sake," he says.=20

Still, some universities have been pleasantly surprised. At Michigan =
State
University, library officials were asked to prepare for a 3-percent =
cut, but
the acquisition budget ended up increasing 5 percent. "The libraries =
seemed
to be shielded from many of the cuts," says Clifford H. Haka, director =
of
libraries.

At Ohio State University, the press had feared a budget cut, but it is
getting the same $150,000 university subsidy it has received for =
several
years. Malcolm Litchfield, the director, describes himself as "fairly
complacent" about the economic situation. "State budgets ebb and flow," =
he
says. "We're going through a drought right now."

However sanguine Mr. Litchfield is about his own press's finances, he =
sees
the interconnected world of presses, libraries, and tenure decisions as =
a
"tangled web that is not functioning properly." While it is easy to =
blame
the economy, he suggests that the liberal arts suffer from far more
fundamental problems that require rethinking the whole system. =
"Expecting
academic work to be printed as books and journals, and to expect a =
press to
engage in a marketplace activity of creating or finding an audience for =
all
academic work, is probably not an efficient use of money," he says.

Even people pushing for change acknowledge that it would take a =
cultural
revolution in which everyone from professors and librarians to =
departments
and tenure committees modified their expectations. Others have said =
that the
changing economics of publishing mean the book should no longer be the
standard of achievement.

In a letter this year to members of the Modern Language Association, =
the
group's president, Stephen Greenblatt, pointed out that university =
presses
are cutting back in English and foreign-language literatures. Because =
that
trend could jeopardize the careers of a generation of young professors, =
he
encouraged departments to consider the situation when reviewing tenure
cases. In the long term, he said, they should reconsider whether a book
should really be a criterion for tenure.

Altering the relationship between university presses and tenure =
decisions
could help shore up the intellectual foundation, but other fundamental
changes in how knowledge is bought and sold will be necessary. Ms. =
Crist,
the University of Massachusetts librarian who is struggling with deep =
budget
cuts, is frustrated that libraries must pay so much money -- especially =
for
scientific journals -- to "buy back" research that was conducted on =
their
own campuses. "Why isn't our intellectual capital more freely =
available?"
she wonders.

Duke's Mr. Wissoker says the answer to economic challenges is not to =
make
academic presses behave more like commercial presses. "We survive =
because we
serve a function for scholarship," he says. "What makes better sense is =
to
figure out a way that the people who benefit could support it."

So Mr. Wissoker has a surprising, if impractical, suggestion. Nearly =
all of
higher education depends on academic publishing in some way, so it =
should
spread the costs, now borne by the limited number of universities with
presses, around more broadly. For instance, he suggests that when a
professor at Sarah Lawrence College wins tenure, the college, which =
does not
have an academic press, should make some payment to the press that =
published
the professor's book.

At Illinois, Mr. Regier sees a future in which more publishing is done
electronically and, perhaps, universities reconsider how they support =
their
presses. "Universities may find that a more honest way to track the =
cost of
publications would be to fund them upfront, publish them =
electronically, and
publish them free," he says.

That doesn't mean he thinks presses will vanish or that libraries will =
stop
buying books. But maybe, embracing this lightning-fast, digital world =
could
push one aspect of publishing back decades. "Being published in a =
book," he
says, "is going to signify something that it used to signify" -- a work =
of
enduring value and relatively broad appeal -- "and it isn't going to =
serve
all of those other purposes." And ultimately, Mr. Regier says, "the =
prestige
of the book would return."

Despite such hopes for the future, the likelihood is not some evolution =
into
a new system but rather a continued chipping away at the intellectual
foundation. And when the money returns, imagine where it will flow. =
"The
priorities are going to be the decaying physical plant, faculty =
recruitment
and retention, student services," says Penn State's Mr. B=E9rub=E9. =
"Oh, and
then there are these libraries."

But figuring out what we are missing, he admits, is difficult, so maybe =
we
won't even miss it. "It's like looking for missing matter in the =
universe,"
he says. "It's hard to say what isn't being read or isn't being =
published."=20