Funding for the University Press of Kentucky has been in limbo for almost two years, ever since Gov. Matt Bevin recommended terminating it in his 2018 budget. UPK is unique among university presses in that it is associated with a consortium of Kentucky colleges and universities, both public and private, and not exclusively with the University of Kentucky (where it is housed). UPK is widely admired for its publications in regional, Civil War, and Military history. A relatively small press, with only about 50 books per year, UPK has won twelve Frederick Jackson Turner awards, which speaks to the extremely high quality of its work.
Fortunately, the Kentucky Legislature has now fully funded the press, having appropriated the $589,000 necessary to keep it in operation.
But let's note that the entire appropriate for UPK, which took two years to approve, is less than 10% of the $8 million annual salary of the basketball coach at the University of Kentucky alone, and the University of Louisville basketball coach is paid another $4 million. Funding for UPK would be a rounding error in the entire athletic budgets for all of the associated public universities.
With stadiums and arenas closed for the foreseeable future, many big-time universities may soon regret the extravagant contracts of coaches in the so-called (but no longer) revenue sports. But they should never forget the enduring value of publishing first rate scholarly books.