Passions Stirred by Threatened Closure of University of Missouri Press

In an op-ed piece published in the Columbia Daily Tribune yesterday, William Least Heat-Moon, author of books including the best-selling “Blue Highways,” decried the decision of University of Missouri president Timothy Wolfe to close the university’s press. Mr. Heat-Moon’s thoughtful and detailed analysis of the situation ended by backing his criticism of the decision with a pledge to contribute a five-figure sum toward “the establishment of an endowment to continue the press in its present form if the proposal for closure is rescinded.”