Hello all, I know that many Twain scholars have been following the sad decision to close the University of Missouri Press. Bruce Miller and Ned Stuckey-French have passed on the press release below and asked Twain scholars to join the FaceBook page and sign the petition in support of the press and the "Mark Twain and His Circle" series. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheUniversityOfMissouriPress Petition: http://signon.org/sign/save-the-university-of.fb8?source=c.fb&r_by=30893 Please take a minute to express your support for the press and its work on Mark Twain. Best, Tracy Wuster *Contacts: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bruce Joshua Miller Ned Stuckey-French 773 275-8156 850 553-9549 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]> CLOSING OF UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS PROMPTS MASSIVE REACTION Facebook Page Attracts Hundreds; Missourians and Others Up in Arms New University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe’s announcement last Thursday that he was shutting down the University’s press has prompted a firestorm of opposition. The Press, which was founded 54 years ago, has published approximately 2,000 titles for both scholars and the general reader, everything from a biography of St. Louis Cardinals’ great Stan Musial to the Collected Works of Langston Hughes. The Press has also published the letters and autobiography of favorite son Harry Truman, and now Missourians and others have decided to “give ‘em hell.” Authors, teachers, librarians, Missouri alums, and readers from across the state of Missouri and the country have voiced their outrage. Within one day a “Save the University of Missouri Press” on Facebook had attracted over 600 followers. Articles about the national reaction to the closing have appeared already in Publishers Weekly, Inside Higher Ed, St. Louis Today, and the Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune. Many of the letters and posts have focused on the disparity between the fact that the head football coach at the University of Missouri Gary Pinkel receives an annual salary of $2.7 million while the University’s subsidy for the Press’s staff of ten, which designs, edits and produces 30 titles a year, is only $400,000. Successful trial lawyer, UM alum and Missouri Press author Thomas Strong wrote President Wolfe to say, “I cannot adequately express how offended I am by your decision. Please remove the plaque that bears my name in a room of the law school. I will make no further financial gifts to MU.” The American Association of University Presses (AAUP) issued a formal announcement: “The AAUP was shocked by the unexpected announcement by University of Missouri system president Timothy Wolfe of the planned closure of the University of Missouri Press. …The shortsighted decision to close an experienced publishing center during a time of expansion in scholarly communications rather than to creatively benefit from the invaluable resource of a widely respected university press is one we hope the University of Missouri will reconsider.” The Press publishes scholarly series and editions devoted to the work of Missouri-born authors such as Langston Hughes and Mark Twain, and scholars of those authors have been some of the first to write to President Wolfe. Southern Methodist University professor and Hughes scholar Darryl Dickson-Carr wrote, “Hughes, as you know, was a native son of Missouri, one of many stellar writers born, raised, or shaped by the state's great, rich history. I needn't tell you of the others, including Mark Twain, who helped put Missouri at the heart of this nation's great literary tradition. …I urge you to reconsider because the press has already been an excellent steward of the state's resources. It has taken the funds invested and turned them into scholarship that documents the history of a great state. It has enhanced the university's mission. Without it, all of us will be poorer.” National Public Radio commentator, Seattle librarian and author Nancy Pearl wrote, “As a book lover, I am saddened by this decision - especially in light of the huge disparity between what the relatively paltry amount that University of Missouri Press needs to continue operations in comparison to the huge amount of money that goes to support the University's major sports teams. Something's screwy in our values, here.” At the time of this release, President Wolfe had not responded to the public outcry. #### *