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Updated May 2, 2025 at 5:25 p.m.

{shortcode-dd08abb0bb2b02bf4881baaa9fb305566107f8d4}he Harvard University Press published 142 new titles in the fall of 2016. Last fall, it put out just 26. Employees of the press say the drop is not a coincidence.

In September 2017, George T. Andreou ’87 became the director of HUP. Since then, press staff alleged — in interviews with The Crimson, union reports, and letters to Harvard administrators — that he has belittled HUP employees to their peers, instilled a fear of retaliation and layoffs, and mismanaged the publishing house.

That environment has caused an exodus of talent, staff say. Since 2018, at least 50 employees have left the press — and, in interviews and in letters obtained by The Crimson, several cited Andreou’s leadership as a key catalyst for their departures. Documents obtained by The Crimson show a history of low morale dating back to 2019.

Between 2020 and 2022, staff wrote at least five letters raising concerns about Andreou’s leadership to then-Harvard Provost Alan M. Garber ’76, whom HUP ultimately reported to, and filed several complaints with human resources. Garber now serves as the University’s president and the press now falls under the leadership of Provost John F. Manning ’82.

“I have never in my professional life in trade publishing experienced the kind of abusive, egotistical and unprofessional behavior that I have seen consistently over the course of the last two and a half years,” a former editor wrote in a 2020 letter to Garber that called for Andreou’s removal.

In one incident, Andreou allegedly pulled back his eyes to reference an Asian employee, according to the editor’s letter to Garber. In other cases, the editor alleged, Andreou referred to HUP staffers as “unemployable” or “idiots.”

“Trust is now so eroded I do not know anyone who thinks the situation can be remedied by any measure short of his departure,” the editor wrote.

Over the years, Harvard took steps to address employee complaints, including hiring a leadership coach for Andreou and hosting meetings with union representatives. Though a May 2023 union survey showed signs of positive progress at HUP, four staff members who remained employed at the press past that date said they felt the problems with Andreou’s leadership have persisted.

A University spokesperson wrote in a statement that HUP made changes over the past seven years “in line with strategic priorities for the press” but declined to comment on the workplace allegations related to Andreou, citing a policy of not discussing personnel matters.

Andreou did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But in a staff-wide email following this piece’s publication, he wrote that the changes at HUP during his tenure have made publishing at the press “even more enviable.”

“Over the past seven years there have been many changes made at HUP to further our strategic priorities,” Andreou wrote. “While this process has been challenging, as change always is, it has been necessary to ensure that we continue a successful trajectory.”

“Our authors have come to appreciate the high-touch professionalism that we provide,” he added.

The Crimson spoke to more than 14 former HUP employees for this article, all of whom criticized Andreou’s management of the press. Some were granted anonymity to candidly discuss their former workplace and supervisor without fear of professional retribution.

Plummeting Output

When Andreou joined HUP in 2017, the press faced flat revenues and rising costs amid a dimming national outlook for academic publishers. Andreou brought nearly three decades of experience in trade publishing — at the highbrow New York firm Alfred A. Knopf — and set his sights on reaching more readers.

“I think that better taking into account end users, otherwise known as readers, is a worthy goal for any publisher at this time,” Andreou told the Harvard Gazette, a University-run publication, in an interview shortly after his appointment.

Within a year, he brought on a new marketing director and restructured the press, laying off some employees and reassigning others. In interviews at the time, Andreou indicated that he wanted to focus on finding an audience for the press’s books — and finding books that would have an audience.

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Then, after nine acquisitions editors departed the press, publishing output plummeted in 2020 — and kept falling.

The decline in published titles was not unusual among academic presses as the Covid-19 pandemic hit. University presses at some peer schools, however, recovered from their pandemic-related dips in output after several months.

HUP did not. Instead, its publishing numbers fell precipitously over the next several years. In fall 2020, HUP published 81 new titles. By fall 2024, just four years later, that figure had dwindled to 26.

Throughout his tenure, Andreou has described his vision for the press as publishing “fewer, better books,” according to the former editor’s October 2020 letter and several former employees.

“Academic publishers have to bear in mind what most publishers do, which is that the answer to most things is ‘No,’” Andreou told Harvard Magazine in a 2018 interview. “And the ‘Yeses’ have to have good reasons for them. They have to be the exception.”

Andreou took the reins at HUP when the press was experiencing declining profits per title, but the figure has increased since he became director — perhaps a sign that his vision has paid off.

HUP also transitioned to a new distributor in 2024, which may have reduced acquisitions that year.

But overall, the steady drop in new titles published by HUP has led revenue to drop, too — from roughly $20 million in past years to $15 million in fiscal year 2024. Revenue from new books — the “frontlist” — declined by half since 2018.

Several employees said there were explanations beyond Andreou’s publishing strategy for the decline, alleging that HUP’s reputation has suffered under his leadership, discouraging authors and literary agents from sending work to HUP.

In a letter to Garber from December 2020, former executive editor Kathleen McDermott wrote that authors had expressed concerns about the state of HUP, saying they would no longer recommend the press to their fellow authors.

“The Press has a growing reputation among academic publishers for dysfunction,” former executive editor Ian Malcolm, who left HUP in April 2022, wrote in a statement to The Crimson.

Several employees also said the departures of top acquisitions editors and shortened contracts for their replacements have caused a loss of institutional knowledge, which may have further contributed to HUP’s declining output.

During Andreou’s tenure, HUP began hiring acquisitions editors on contracts that lasted just two years. The change marked a contract length that is substantially shorter than the many years that editors previously would spend building relationships with authors and finalizing book deals, according to a former employee.

Boston University associate professor Anthony A. Jack, an award-winning author, published his first book, “The Privileged Poor,” with HUP, but his second with Princeton University Press instead. Jack said he felt his editor at HUP, Andrew Kinney, could not pursue a final contract for his book as aggressively as he would have liked.

He said Kinney’s “hands were tied” and that HUP’s leadership seemed to be restricting Kinney’s ability to pursue the book deal. “There was a vision from the top of what books should be coming out, rather than from the editors putting forth a case for what books they view as contribution to the field,” Jack added. (Kinney declined to comment.)

According to the former editor’s October 2020 letter, Andreou “heaped scorn” on Jack’s first book, calling it “barely publishable.”

“The Privileged Poor” went on to win six awards — including the Thomas J. Wilson Prize, bestowed by HUP’s Board of Syndics — and was named one of National Public Radio’s best books of 2019.

‘Morale Is Awful’

In her December 2020 letter to Garber, McDermott alleged that Andreou’s leadership had left many employees demoralized — and that Harvard had failed to protect them.

“I cannot stress enough the sense of despair the vast majority of the press staff feels at this point,” McDermott wrote. “Having worked so long at Harvard, I have watched as my colleagues, once proud and excited to work for Harvard, have come to believe that the university’s words about valuing its staff are entirely hollow.”

Former employees cited multiple instances in which, they said, Andreou made pejorative remarks and harshly criticized employees. The editor who wrote to Garber in 2020 alleged that Andreou repeatedly engaged in “scathing and abusive ad hominem attacks” and fostered “a textbook case of a hostile work environment.”

“You just kind of wondered what was going to be the thing that set him off this meeting, and you hoped it wasn’t you,” former HUP publicist Megan Posco said.

When another former publicist went on maternity leave from the press, Andreou said in 2019 that she “abandoned” HUP and that she was not mature enough for a promotion, according to the October 2020 letter to Garber, written a year and a half after the incident allegedly took place.

In another instance, Andreou referred to a former acquisitions editor as a “slob” and repeatedly criticized his appearance to his colleagues, according to two former employees.

And when Sharmila Sen ’92, HUP’s editorial director, sent an email in October 2020 congratulating staff for completing a catalogue during the pandemic, Andreou sent a one-line accidental reply to the entire staff: “Oh, please.”

Andreou sent another email two hours later apologizing to Sen and writing that his prior message was “no reflection on everybody’s amazing effort.” The next morning, Andreou sent another follow-up apologizing to the whole staff for what he referred to as his “uncalled for” email.

But multiple employees who received the email said they felt offended by the message and thought it was emblematic of broader concerns with Andreou’s leadership.

One month later in November 2020, Carrie E. Barbash, the president of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, sent a report to Garber and Harvard Business School professor William C. Kirby, who at the time chaired HUP’s Board of Directors. (Kirby declined multiple interview requests for this story.)

The report contained the results of 2019 and 2020 surveys of HUP union members that found widespread dissatisfaction and frustration with Andreou’s leadership.

“We have all witnessed his many uncontrollable tantrums in the Editorial Meetings. His presence at these meetings is erratic and his remarks haphazard,” a respondent wrote on the 2020 survey. Respondents were not named in the report.

The 2019 and 2020 surveys had 81 percent and 82 percent response rates, respectively. Roughly half the press’s staff were in the union, according to a former employee.

In the 2020 survey, 100 percent of respondents reported that Andreou’s style of leadership had a “very negative” or “somewhat negative” effect on morale and cross-departmental collaboration within the press.

“Morale is awful. It’s gone so far downhill I’m looking at every avenue to leave Harvard,” a 2019 respondent said. “This environment is so toxic I no longer want anything to do with this place.”

As frustrations mounted with Andreou’s leadership, the press experienced significant staff turnover. Of the at least 50 employees who have left HUP since 2018, several who spoke with The Crimson cited Andreou’s leadership as a reason for their departures.

Lindsay E. Waters, a longtime acquisitions editor who spent 35 years at the press, retired early in 2020 over frustrations with Andreou’s leadership.

“I left when I discovered what he was like,” Waters said in an interview with The Crimson.

Tensions between Andreou and press staff also erupted in the form of political disagreements. On two separate occasions, Andreou and HUP staff found themselves in standoffs over whether the press should issue public statements or shows of support for social movements.

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In June 2019, HUP updated its social media profiles with a modified version of its logo in rainbow colors to celebrate Pride Month. But within a week, the rainbow logos were removed — a decision which HUP employees at the time attributed to Andreou and the board of directors.

“We find it troubling that this action was considered too political for HUP, given that LGTBQ+ rights are human rights and should not be considered a partisan issue,” employees wrote in a June 2019 email to press leadership. “Many of us at the Press identify as LGBTQ+ and find the decision to remove the logo and what it symbolizes to be invalidating and discriminatory.”

In 2020, Andreou initially resisted requests from staff members to publish a statement condemning racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, leading to an all-staff town hall held in June.

“I hate for an organization that depends on a certain level of seriousness to be drawn into sloganeering,” Andreou said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The Crimson. “I don’t think that’s valuable. To me it feels shallow.”

In both instances, however, Andreou ultimately relented and allowed staff members to reinstate the logo modified for Pride Month and issue a statement on George Floyd. “I will welcome volunteers for a kind of drafting committee to put this together for our release,” he said during the 2020 meeting.

In a 2023 union report, employees were positive about their experiences at the press, reporting that they enjoy their work at HUP and encounter “caring, empathy, good humor, and kindness” among their colleagues. Most employees reported positive interactions with their managers and HUP as an organization. But a majority disagreed with the statement that “senior leaders create enough opportunities for us to come together as a group to evaluate how we’re doing, what’s working, and what’s not.”

Respondents said that HUP leadership — and, in particular, Andreou and Sen in their positions as director and editorial director — could better communicate the press’s strategy.

“When thinking about conduct in the workplace, many colleagues expressed a desire that HUP staff recognize certain harmful individual and company behaviors that impact morale and productivity, address those behaviors, and model new behaviors that seek to repair harm done,” union representatives wrote in the report.

Zoom Calls and a Leadership Coach

Frustrated employees submitted human resources complaints and sent letters to Garber, who was then serving as the University’s provost and helped oversee HUP. But at least two former employees wrote in letters and six told The Crimson in interviews that the University’s responses did little to solve the problems they identified.

In response to the complaints, the provost’s office sent a management coach, LeahGrace Kayler, in 2020 to work with Andreou on his leadership approach. Kayler met with several editors and solicited responses to questionnaires that asked what was and wasn’t working at the press. In a response, one editor reported that employees felt “undervalued” and that Andreou had “a negative perception” of employees.

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Garber wrote in a December 2020 email to Barbash, the HUCTW president, that he believed Andreou had made progress since beginning work with Kayler. (Kayler did not respond to a request for comment.)

“My understanding from George and his leadership coach is that he has made positive strides towards enhancing communication among his senior management,” Garber wrote.

Several employees, however, felt that Andreou’s management issues persisted. In her December 2020 letter, McDermott wrote that the coach seemed like “an exercise in futility” and appeared “to have accepted a false narrative that the problem is employees reluctant to change.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” McDermott wrote at the time. “We all had been looking forward eagerly to a new director, new energy, new vision.”

The email Garber sent in December 2020 came in response to the union report shared by Barbash detailing the employee concerns with Andreou’s leadership. In his email, Garber acknowledged the concerns, writing that the report was “disheartening to read.”

Garber also offered to schedule a meeting between Barbash, HUP union members, and the human resourcesrelations team responsible for HUP. He expressed hope that the group would identify strategies for “improving morale and communications within HUP” and “lead to positive changes for HUP employees at all levels.”

In May 2021, a Zoom invitation for the meeting Garber had promised was sent to HUP employees, HUCTW leadership, an HR director, and Lori E. Gross, the associate provost for arts and culture.

At the meeting, the HUP union members and HUCTW leadership shared instances where they alleged that Andreou’s leadership was ineffective and distressing for employees, according to two affiliates present at the meeting.

Despite the meeting, employees said the issues at HUP continued. In 2021, Andreou’s five-year contract was renewed.

In May 2022, the press hosted an organization-wide meeting attended by Garber, Gross, and some members of the Board of Directors, which controls the business operations of the press. The board is composed of University administrators and faculty, as well as publishing executives.

But some press employees were not satisfied with the conversation.

Though the meeting was scheduled as a regular check-in, HUP union members submitted questions about “prioritizing staff retention” and improving morale at HUP ahead of time. However, none of these questions were directly asked or answered, according to an email sent from an employee at the time who attended the meeting.

Instead, Garber and the board members “closed ranks around George” and “backed up his vision,” the employee alleged in their email.

At the end of the meeting, Malcolm, then an executive editor, sent a message through Zoom criticizing the comments made by Garber and some Board of Directors members as “condescending,” adding that Andreou’s statements were “false, misleading, or too vague to be verifiable.”

“Most of what the others said was condescending and out of touch,” Malcolm wrote. “Goodness. How infantilizing.”

In a statement to The Crimson this year, Malcolm wrote that “it’s not a secret that HUP is an unsettled organization” and that the University has been well warned about HUP’s challenges.

“If the problems amount to a crisis, it’s not one that the university’s administration hasn’t been warned about,” Malcolm wrote.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.