logo
Donate
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
    • Glossary
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Magazine
  • Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

The Sustainability Expectation for Nonprofits: This Time, at Stanford’s Press

Marian Conway
May 1, 2019
Frank Schulenburg [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

April 26, 2019; Chronicle of Higher Education

What kind of an argument can an institution of higher learning put forward to justify cuts when they have a massive and growing endowment? If that school is Stanford, which, at $26.5 billion dollars, has the world’s third-largest endowment, how does it frame the need to cut the $1.7 million that subsidizes its university press?

Stanford, according to the Form 990 from 2017, brought in $237 million in revenue from its investments. And yet, Stanford is cutting the subsidy it provides to its scholarly publisher, Stanford University Press, which with its staff of 35 publishes work in anthropology, sociology, business, religion, and 10 other disciplines.

The elimination of the subsidy was announced at a Faculty Senate meeting and was greeted with the expected mix of indignation and confusion. “This is a reprehensible moment for one of the richest universities in the world and a diminution of intellectual inquiry. It really boggles the mind,” said Woody Powell, a Stanford sociology professor, a former member of the press’s editorial board, and a current adviser to it.

Persis Drell, the provost of Stanford, discussed the subsidy cut at a meeting of humanities and social-science chairs. The amount, which had been consistent the previous three years, might be better spent on graduate fellowships, Drell suggested. The department chairs observed that it would only cover three fellowships—not much bang for the buck. Repeating the position in a written statement, the provost “noted that it will be a very tight budget year, with an incremental payout of 2.1 percent on the endowment—which is below anticipated inflation.”

The statement went on to say, “The budget group made a very significant allocation to the press of approximately $1.7 million annually for three years in one-time funds, with the assurance from the press that this would be a bridge to a self-sustaining future.”

The director at the Stanford University Press, Alan Harvey, and an editorial-board member, law professor Richard Thompson Ford, stated that they, along with others involved in the press, would like to discuss other funding paths. The university has denied the press the ability to raise dollars as a separate entity from major donors for years. The statement mentioned that the press could utilize “modest philanthropy” to raise money but did not elaborate.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Harvey reports that the press, which started the same time as the school, in 1892, brings in about $5 million in revenue with the sale of the 130-135 books it publishes annually, and older titles.

“I would put it among the very best university presses in America,” said the editorial director of the Johns Hopkins University Press, Gregory M. Britton. “It’s an incredible jewel. It’s every bit the equal of its institution” in the quality and scope of its offerings.

Some large university publishers have their own 501c3s to raise funds separately from the school, and some have significant endowments of their own. In 2016, Princeton University Press had net assets of $137 million. The presses at University of Virginia, Yale, and Harvard have endowments.

David Palumbo-Liu, a Stanford professor of comparative literature, says it is incongruent that a school that does not want to be all STEM—the “MIT of the West”—does not support its notable work in the humanities and social sciences. And, as Palumbo-Liu wrote in an email, the stakes in the Stanford-press standoff are higher than the relatively small dollar figures might convey:

If we follow the logic of the market and wish to use a financial metric, the academy is gone. Presses will publish only profitable books, graduate students will write only profitable dissertations, and tenure will be awarded based on scholarship that is profitable. Reforming a university press under the mandate that it be financially solvent and, by extension, awarding it value based on profit is a direct attack on academic freedom, free inquiry, free speech.

Support letters from the different Stanford departments are already circulating for signatures of those who disagree with the cuts or how the committee arrived at the decision. Perhaps it is time for Stanford University Press to become its own nonprofit.—Marian Conway

About the author
Marian Conway

Marian Conway, the executive director of the NY Community Bank Foundation, has a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies, Writing and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nonprofit Management. She has discovered that her job and education have made her a popular person with nonprofits and a prime candidate for their boards. Marian keeps things in perspective, not allowing all that to go to her head, but it is difficult to say no to a challenge, especially participating in change, in remaking a board. She is currently on eleven boards of various sizes and has learned to say no.

More about: Board Governance and LeadershipFinancial SustainabilityHigher EducationNonprofit News

Our Voices Are Our Power.

Journalism, nonprofits, and multiracial democracy are under attack. At NPQ, we fight back by sharing stories and essential insights from nonprofit leaders and workers—and we pay every contributor.

Can you help us protect nonprofit voices?

Your support keeps truth alive when it matters most.
Every single dollar makes a difference.

Donate now
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

You might also like
Madeleine L’Engle’s Books Were Never Meant to Be “Safe”
Charlotte Jones Voiklis
Advocates Mobilize to Stave Off Cuts to Federal Student Loan Programs
Marian Conway
Why the Threats Against Nonprofit Tax Status Are Unprecedented
Rebekah Barber
Endowments Aren’t Blank Checks—but Universities Can Rely on Them More Heavily in Turbulent Times
Ellen P. Aprill
US Colleges and Universities Have Billions Stashed Away in Endowments—a Higher Ed Finance Expert Explains What They Are
Todd L. Ely
When Academic Freedom Falls, Civil Society Is Next
Zane McNeill

Upcoming Webinars

Group Created with Sketch.
May 27th, 2:00 pm ET

Ask the Nonprofit Lawyer

Register
Group Created with Sketch.
June 26th, 2:00 pm ET

From Performance Management to Mutual Commitment

Fostering a Culture of Joyful Accountability

Register

    
You might also like
An outstretched hand holds an open paperback book with a black and red cover. Flames and sparks come from the pages of the book and smoke fills the night sky around it.
Madeleine L’Engle’s Books Were Never Meant to Be...
Charlotte Jones Voiklis
A mural shows a frightened man with eyes open, hands on his chin, and dollars and coins slipping through his fingers.
Advocates Mobilize to Stave Off Cuts to Federal Student Loan...
Marian Conway
An image of a computer keyboard, with a green key reading "tax exempt."
Why the Threats Against Nonprofit Tax Status Are...
Rebekah Barber

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright
  • Donate
  • Editorial Policy
  • Funders

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.