"A UNIVERSITY PRESS exists to publish as many good scholarly works as possible, short of bankruptcy."

For many years this philosophy was the underlying guideline for operations of the Harvard University Press. Credit for the ideal belongs to Thomas J. Wilson, director of the Harvard Press coincided with the Wilson, the unofficial guideline worked well--his years as head of the Harvard Press coincide with the "good-time" years of university presses throughout the country. Especially in the late 50's and early 60's, money was loose and the buying public made it possible for university based presses to flourish in America.

Since then, though, times have changed. The United States economy, once caught in ever-spiraling inflationary trends, sooner or later had to come back down. When it did, the resulting recession echoed with a deadening thud throughout the world of scholarly publications. With the tightening of the nation's money belts, university presses have not fared well.

The Harvard Press is no exception. Since the fiscal year of 1967-1968 the Press has been on shaky economic footing, and in the last two years the operating deficit has flirted dangerously with the half-million dollar mark. In 1970-1971, the deficit ran over $450,000; for 1971-1972 it is projected at over $375,000. When Derek C. Bok became Harvard's 25th President last July, he inherited a press which, despite being considered the exemplar of university presses in this country, was not on solid footing.

Bok, though he realized the important position that a university press holds in an academic community such as Harvard, must have thought that the operations of the Harvard Press were taking the bankruptcy slogan of the unofficial motto far too seriously. He did not want to continue losing inordinate amounts of money and quickly moved to take action against the deficit operations before they choked the Press in its own debt.

Since Bok's installation, a lot has happened to operations inside Press headquarters at 79 Garden Street, and the early indications are that things will never be quite the same for the Press at Harvard.

With the appointment of Stephen S. J. Hall as vice President for Administration, Bok put in motion the rejuvenation of the Harvard Press. Hall sports a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a businessman's love for a tight economic ship. He launched an extensive examination of the Press's operations, intent on fusing the principles of his lengthy career in business administration and hotel management with the academic pursuits of university press operations.

The Bok-Hall regime has brought many new ideas to the Press operations and has initiated widescale actions that have affected the Press on all levels. The biggest move of all, though, dropped like a bombshell last February when, to the surprise of a Harvard community unaccustomed to abrupt personnel changes. Bok dismissed Mark S. Carroll as director of Press operations. Carroll had been director since 1968; for most Harvard people (including Carroll himself) there had been little advance notice for the firing.

THE SUDDENNESS of the dismissal created a highly emotional atmosphere around Harvard as people reacted unfavorably to such an "un-Harvardian" action. Stories in the Harvard Bulletin and the New York Times claimed that Carroll had been victim of a heartless bureaucracy that was growing under the Bok Administration.

What these articles did not report, and, curiously enough, what the Admunustration did not make an effort to clear up, was the fact that, while Carroll himself had not been given any warning of the change prior to his dismissal on February 18, the dismissal was not a hasty action. The financial problems of the Press, and the director's relationship to them had been under close scrutiny for some time.

The Press's Board of Directors, which controls administrative operations, had been intimately involved in discussions with Bok and Hall about the problems of the Press and about Carroll's fate. In fact, the Board was fundamental in the investigation of the Press's economic problems--the investigation which ultimately led to Carroll's downfall.

According to Bok, the decision that Carroll was to be dismissed was debated in full by the Board of Directors. However, at no time prior to Carroll's dismissal was the Board of Syndics--the editorial arm of the Press--consulted as a body about the decision. Instead, the directors did a considerable amount of informal checking to gather opinions on the operations of the Press in general and on Carroll's management in particular. The Syndics were consulted only through the informal polling procedures undertaken by the Board of Directors.

The Syndics were not the only people informally polled. Faculty members in the Harvard community, as well as officials of other university presses around the country, were asked their opinions on Harvard's press and its operations. What this revealed was, according to Hall, an overall attitude that the Press was in a "holding position"--just holding on financially. The communication with other university presses in the country showed that, while Harvard's press was still considered the standard by which to measure university presses in the U.S., it was also, with a deficit of nearly a half million dollars, the largest losing press in the country.

The Board of Directors analyzed the results of their inquiries and came, according to Hall (who was involved in the process throughout), "to a unanimous feeling that for the good of Harvard and for the good of the Harvard University Press, a change was in order."

Early in the week of February 14-18 Carroll received a call from Bok's secretary informing him that the President wanted him to make an appointment. On the eighteenth Bok and Carroll met. Bok told the director that he had decided to make a change in administration at the Press and asked for Carroll's resignation. Carroll refused to resign, seeing no point in pretense. Bok then gave Carroll his dismissal, effective immediately.