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Historians and Literary Critics Go to Bat for Louisiana State U. Press

The American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association have sent letters to Louisiana’s governor, Bobby Jindal, asking him to keep the Louisiana State University Press open. Louisiana’s budget is in deep trouble, and the press could be forced to shut down if it loses its operating subsidy in the current round of state budget cuts. The AHA’s and the MLA’s letters add the weight of two prominent scholarly associations to a growing public campaign of support for the press.

The MLA’s letter, signed by the association’s president, Catherine Porter, calls LSU Press “an indispensable national institution” and urges the Republican governor to make sure it continues to receive support. “Few university presses in the United States have achieved the distinguished record of LSU Press,” Ms. Porter wrote on behalf of the MLA’s 30,000 members.

The historical association’s letter, signed by its executive director, Arnita A. Jones, praises the press as “one of the most significant publishers in the fields of Southern history” and says that “its loss would be a severe blow to our understanding of the past.”
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Ed blog