University Press Editors – Gatekeepers To Academia

To get tenure at a big university, a young professor must publish books. “Recently, chief academic administrators have begun to demand that candidates for tenure publish two books, not just one, because more is somehow better; they actually don’t give a damn which presses churn out all these unreadable, uninspiring volumes.” But if books are the admittance pass, the book gatekeepers – editors of the university presses – have amazing power over the careers of academics. Is this a good development?