The senate, at its Oct. 8 meeting, joined the faculty governance bodies at a number of SUNY campuses, including Cortland, New Paltz and Brockport, in approving a resolution urging that an open search be conducted for a new director of the press and that it continue to be run by an editorial board composed of SUNY scholars.

The resolution supports a search for a new director that is "unencumbered by political pressures, that seeks to identify the most well-qualified candidate, based on knowledge of, and experience in, academic publishing and commitment to academic values."

It opposes "any effort to meddle with SUNY Press publishing operational activities, including those of the editorial board, that would compromise the values of academic freedom, open intellectual inquiry and continued financial viability."

Henry Sussman, associate dean of arts and letters and a member of the SUNY Press editorial board, outlined the issues of concern to senators:

- Interviews already are under way to replace the acting director of the press, who is being replaced without any consultation with the editorial board. The search committee conducting those interviews is composed of four SUNY administrators, only one of whom has any experience with SUNY Press, and only one faculty member, Sussman added.

He said that there is information, which he acknowledged he could not verify, "suggesting that the search may be a foregone conclusion in that an insider with connections to the governor's office may be the final choice," even though that person lacks knowledge of, or experience with, SUNY Press or any academic-publishing operation.

- A senior administrator in the SUNY Provost's Office, whom he declined to name, has told a staff member at the Research Foundation who works with the press that the editorial board was being dissolved.

- That administrator also has pushed for the press to publish more public-policy studies. Sussman said that when he asked at a Sept. 23 meeting of the editorial board what that meant, "the implication of the anecdotal evidence was that these were to be sort of political statements coming from some direction."

The resolution before the Faculty Senate, he said, "simply speaks to intellectual integrity and process; it doesn't commit the university to being liberal or conservative or to maintain any political position whatsoever.

"It would be particularly meaningful in Albany if this campus would also express its questioning and its concerns about a very precipitous change in a press that has established a modicum of openness in the treatment of authors and intellectual materials."

In response to a question from Ken Regan, associate professor of computer science, Sussman noted that the press is open to publishing any material, as long as the normal procedures-whereby material comes to the press either through a staff or faculty editor-are followed.

The issue, he stressed, is not a political matter "of who's the governor or what we like or what we don't like. It's a matter of the fact that the procedures are being suspended (the director and board are being replaced) and nobody knows what the press is really thinking."

Michael Frisch, professor of history and American studies and a former SUNY Press editorial board member, said there is nothing wrong with making changes at SUNY Press. "The ominous thing here is the possibility of (overhauling) an entire structure that is working well, that involves peer review and involves a very active faculty roleŠIf there is, in fact, a structural shadow over the operations of the press, this would be very damaging to faculty governance and to the reputation of our university nationwide," he said.

"This is not to say that everything the press has done is perfect," continued Frisch, who has had his work published by the press and has served as editor of series published by it. "ŠIt is to say that these procedures should not be changed or interfered with lightly."

It is appropriate, he said, for the Faculty Senate to express its concern about "the nature of the search and the nature of the editorial board and the role of faculty and faculty governance in them."

Peter Hare, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Philosophy, urged his colleagues to support the resolution.

"SUNY System may have its difficulties in many areas, but SUNY Press is one of the things we can be most proud of," Hare said, suggesting that the SUNY campuses should send a delegation to Albany to discuss the issues with the search committee.