Ooligan Press, the successful student-run publishing division at Portland State University, is being challenged by the fiscal crisis in Oregon and its retiring director might not be replaced at the end of the year. The budget cuts could also affect the university’s graduate program in book publishing that, like Ooligan, have been under the direction of assistant professor Dennis Stovall since their inception nearly 10 years ago.
“Despite our success and profitability – we bring in between $1 million and $1.2 million annually and cost no more than $275,000 to run – our department is considering drastic cuts," said who announced his retirement in January, and will leave PSU on December 30, 2011. “I thought my retirement announcement would precipitate a serious search for a new director, with plenty of time for it, but the administration seems to be taking a different approach.”
Dr. Jennifer Ruth, chair of the English Department, cites a university-wide “hiring pause” as the real culprit here. “This is a much bigger and more complex picture than people realize,” she says. “We are not anticipating closing Ooligan or the publishing program, both of which we’ve always supported. This is simply a result of a budget shortfall from the state of Oregon.” Both Ruth and PSU’s interim dean Dick Knight say that no decisions have been made about a possible replacement for Stovall, and that it will take another three to four weeks before a clearer picture of the situation emerges.
The graduate students in the publishing program have organized and are mounting a letter-writing and media campaign that includes outreach to parents, alumni, English department chairs at other institutions, PSU’s president, and Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon. The April 15th deadline to inform applicants of their status in next semester’s Ooligan program further complicates the issue of whether or not the press will survive. Ooligan depends on a steady flow of new students to maintain its publishing integrity and continuity. In addition, without a replacement for Stovall the program may suffer even if it’s allowed to continue.
Ruth, however, explained that there have been offers from faculty members to voluntarily step in and take the helm at Ooligan in order to keep it going regardless of whether or not the hiring freeze is lifted by the time Stovall retires at the end of the year.
There are currently over 120 graduate students in PSU’s publishing program, with 30 active titles in print through Ooligan Press. Robyn Crummer-Olson has been a graduate assistant in the publishing program for two years and is one of the organizers of the letter-writing campaign. “We have several objectives,” she says, “but our primary goal is to get the attention of the PSU administration above the English department and move the conversation out from behind the closed doors of faculty meetings.” The students also want to prove the financial and literary value of the program and assert the need for more equitable distribution of departmental resources. Currently there are only two full-time faculty members in the publishing program.
“I really hope that we can rise above the land-grabbing and internal competition for resources in order to find solutions that both save money and better serve the students of the entire English department,” Crummer-Olson says.
