Future of Oxford left to UCA panel
Trustees to decide if magazine stays
DEBRA HALE-SHELTON ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
CONWAY — University of Central Arkansas President Tom Courtway said Tuesday that he will ask the board of trustees to decide whether to keep The Oxford American magazine on campus and, if it stays, whether to continue subsidizing it. Courtway said he and Oxford American Publisher Warwick Sabin met earlier Tuesday to discuss the magazine’s recent sexual-harassment problems and “the continuing relationship, if any,” with UCA. Courtway said he was not prepared to say what he would recommend to the board because he wants to confer with other UCA personnel first. He plans to take the matter to the board, perhaps at its Sept. 7 meeting. Courtway said that, to his knowledge, the magazine has satisfactorily resolved sexual-harassment allegations against three employees. Over the years, the magazine has accrued a $700,000 debt to the university. UCA also gives the magazine $50,000 a year for supplies. Last month, amid the contention over Smirnoff and others, Rick Massey, the magazine’s board chairman, pledged five annual contributions of $69,000, starting immediately, to go toward that debt. That would leave a $355,000 debt. In an interview Tuesday, Courtway said the questions needing to be addressed are three-fold. “Do we continue to provide the offices for [the magazine’s editorial staff], knowing that some of our [student] interns will be over there and knowing what benefits it will accrue to the university?” Courtway said. During UCA’s own investigation of the harassment allegations recently, it came to light that only one of the interns there at the time was a UCA student. Other students came from other colleges. In a recent e-mail, Sabin said, “The Oxford American has a competitive internship program that is open to anyone who applies. UCA students do not receive special consideration, but UCA students are frequently selected from among the many national applicants each year.” Courtway said that, among other things, he wants to know how many of UCA’s writing interns can work at the magazine. “I would hope that whatever happens, we have a more significant intern involvement in the operation,” he added.
A second question, Courtway said, is whether UCA should continue to provide the office-supply money at $50,000 annually, another sum or none. Finally, he said, there’s the question of “the long-term prospects” of getting the full debt repaid. Sabin said Tuesday that Courtway indicated to him that “he was just going to sort of think about what form the future relationship [with the magazine] would take.” Courtway also wants to be sure the two talk about UCA getting all of the benefits it would like from that relationship, Sabin said. After visiting with some staff members, including the interim provost and others at UCA, and with Sabin again, Courtway said he then will decide what to propose to the board of trustees. The UCA board and the magazine’s board must decide “how we want to conduct this arrangement going forward — whether [magazine employees] move off the campus, whether we keep them here,” Courtway said. “We have to make some decisions,” Courtway said. “He [Sabin] and his board have to.” Courtway said a formal agreement between the university and the magazine has probably expired but can be extended if needed. “Everything is operating in good faith right now,” he said. Courtway described his meeting with Sabin, who became publisher in April 2008, as a preliminary and “constructive discussion.” The UCA president said it’s the first time he could recall that he and Sabin have sat down “face to face” to discuss the magazine’s relationship with UCA since he became interim president in September and president in December.
I'm sorry people but there is so much "fail" with this business association with the OA that anyone with good common sense and good business sense should take little time in determining to release this albatross from around the neck of UCA. From a monetary standpoint there is not one thing about this association with the OA that is beneficial to this university.
I want to believe that we now have leaders running this university that will not hesitate to shed an entity that has been a black eye on the face of a great university. If someone on staff, in administration, or basically just associated with UCA had been accused and/or found guilty of such charges, they would, hopefully, be recent history here at UCA.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, this is a no-brainer. As a taxpayer and donor to this university, I believe this should be the easiest decision you might ever make during your tenures on the board. Please see to it that my hard-earned money is better put to work for the students and personnel of this university.
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