By JANESE SILVEY

Columbia Daily Tribune

The general editor of the Missouri Biography Series—a collection of 30-some biographies of notable Missourians—is calling it quits.

Bill Foley, a professor emeritus of history from the University of Central Missouri, wrote UM President Tim Wolfe his resignation letter today. It’s a position he’s held since the series began in 1990. From his letter:

It is not a step that I have taken lightly, but the latest revelations detailing the machinations surrounding the initiative to redesign the University of Missouri Press have confirmed my worst fears about its future prospects.

Few, if any, reputable scholars will be willing to associate themselves with the ill-considered and quixotic imaginings of individuals who, it is now clear, place little value on the kind of traditional scholarship that has been and will continue to be a vital underpinning for any respectable institution of higher learning and who additionally have little understanding of the essential tenets of scholarly publication. This is a sad day for the University of Missouri Press and even more so for the University of Missouri. One is left to wonder how this sorry state of affairs has come about.

It’s the latest in a growing pile of letters from authors and editors who are not interested in working with Speer Morgan’s version of a university press.

Read the full column here: UM Press Series Editors Resign