Message from the Interim Dean

On a cool fall weekend last November, I planted crocus and tulip bulbs in the neglected beds outside my office windows. After a long winter, I was delighted to see them sprouting last week. As we approach a challenging period with our WSU budgets, I am encouraged that we are prepared to endure our present fiscal realities.

As I write this column, I recently shared with the WSU community our current plans to balance our collections budget by reducing our subscriptions to online journals and databases by more than $700,000. These cancellations are prompted by flat budgets and regular inflation charged by many scholarly publishers. We in the libraries strive to provide the best possible resources to all our researchers, and it truly pains us to cancel journal subscriptions and databases. We appreciate all the feedback from faculty both advocating for particular resources and reminding us of the fundamental support we provide for research and teaching at WSU.

Amid our current budget challenges, we are engaged in so many positive activities. We recently joined Dryad to provide support for WSU faculty in managing and making accessible their research data. We also just held our Crimson Reads event, an annual celebration of WSU-affiliated authors that included a panel of three 2024 writers sharing with attendees their inspiration for and process of publishing their books. Authors recognized this year included Claudia Leeb, Kirk McAuley, Katy Whalen, Ryan Hardesty, Andra Chastain, Grant Maierhofer, K.D. Prince, and Eugene Smelyansky.

My colleagues are doing amazing things. In mid-April, Jen Saulnier Lange and Erin Hvizdak are presenting their survey research regarding anxieties and hesitancies in staffing virtual reference chats globally at a conference in Wales. Our associate dean, Beth Blakesley, recently began serving as an assistant editor at the WSU Press. Beth brings to the position extensive experience editing scholarly journals.

This weekend, I will drive to Olympia with my friend and colleague in the history department, Ryan Booth, to borrow a half-size maquette (preliminary model) of the Bill Frank Jr. sculpture that will replace the statue of Marcus Whitman at the U.S. Capitol. We are also hosting a series of events in April: a reception for incoming WSU President Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell; the Sherman and Mabel Smith Pettyjohn Memorial Lecture in History on April 10; the Native American Advisory Board meeting that same evening; and a panel on fishing rights on April 18. I love how our libraries are at the center of campus life and intellectual discourse.

In past columns, I wrote about President Ernest O. Holland’s vision for the library and his own collecting. This month, I’ll focus on campus life under Holland.

The longest-serving president of WSU kept a close watch on campus and sought to create a healthy atmosphere. He forbade smoking and consuming alcohol on campus. Faculty member Mary Johnson recalled that the male faculty skirted the no-smoking rule by hiding behind buildings or smoking in other discreet locations, but one female faculty member openly smoked outside. Holland addressed this violation personally and called all women faculty to his office.

According to Professor Johnson, Holland told the following story: “Now, I used to drink a little beer when I was superintendent of schools in Louisville, Kentucky. But one day, one of the parents came to me and said, ‘Do you think you are setting a very good example for the boys?’ So I quit drinking.” When some in the president’s meeting questioned the no-smoking rule, Holland responded, “Now that’s your privilege, and I’ll be happy to recommend you to the University of Washington or anyplace where it’s considered all right. But you can’t smoke here.” We assume that the faculty received the message and ceased smoking in public. Holland did not vacillate in his views and was certainly willing to ask for a resignation if necessary.

He considered drinking a moral issue and lobbied to keep liquor stores from reopening after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In 1936, Pullman citizens voted to permit liquor sales, much to Holland’s dismay. Washington State College administrators continued to enforce their own alcohol ban on campus through the Holland years, though with no great success. According to historian William Stimson, fraternity men could have whiskey delivered by a local milkman by telling him to bring a bottle of “heavy cream.”

Some found Holland’s formal demeanor charming. Thelma Reuss, whose husband Carl Reuss worked as sociology professor from 1937 to 1944, recalled that among her faculty friends, “everyone liked Holland and went out of their way to greet him.” He was always “immaculately attired in attractive conservative fashion, he walked with grace and to everyone he tipped his hat and slightly drew his cane with a warm, sincere greeting.” Holland and his sister, Edith, even allowed campus organizations to hold parties and dances on the third floor of the president’s mansion, and “after greeting each guest, they would retire to their living quarters.”

Trevor