Here is one paragraph from the boilerplate email I received four minutes after sending my email to the president, regarding Barb's point: With another year of flat funding for the university and an increasing realization that university resources must be aligned with strategic priorities, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our subsidy to the press beginning in the 2013 fiscal year. Out of respect for notifying the remaining ten employees at the press, this decision was not discussed publicly in advance, but please know it was vetted by system and campus administration, including vice presidents, chancellors, provosts and curators. His "respect" for the remaining ten employees, down from 20+ in a previous cost-cutting move, included not conferring with them at all, never meeting them, never visiting their offices, and certainly not telling them the axe was about to fall. In the last paragraph of his "letter," he calls shutting down the press "phasing out our current model." Woe to the university who hires a businessman as president! John Bird -----Original Message----- From: Barbara Schmidt Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 1:55 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Save the University of Missouri Press--Facebook page and Petition Why are we not hearing how the University Board of Curators weighed in on this decision? Doesn't the President of the University answer to them? I would think this decision was made at a higher level than the President's office. He is taking the heat but what role did the governing body play in this decision? Barb