Russell Kirk

Ever since the Second World War, Behemoth State U. and Podunk Evangelical College have been in the bookselling business. They clearly don’t know what they’re about, on most campuses, and they positively discourage book lovers and potential book lovers. Such shops, usually in student unions (on the basement floor), are supposed to make money for the institutions that own them, but their profits, if any, must be negligible. No privately owned bookshop could possibly survive anywhere if operated on such lack of principles.

At reputable universities, of course, the institutional book outlet is overshadowed by more interesting and better-managed commercial bookshops close to the campus. But on the typical campus, bookselling has become a clumsy monopoly. At not a few colleges, management of the bookshop is turned over to a syndicated food-catering service, as a sideline. Most managers of such official bookshops would fail as dishwashers.

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Ever since the Second World War, Behemoth State U. and Podunk Evangelical College have been in the bookselling business. They clearly don’t know what they’re about, on most campuses, and they positively discourage book lovers and potential book lovers. Such shops, usually in student unions (on the basement floor), are supposed to make money for the institutions that own them, but their profits, if any, must be negligible. No privately owned bookshop could possibly survive anywhere if operated on such lack of principles.

At reputable universities, of course, the institutional book outlet is overshadowed by more interesting and better-managed commercial bookshops close to the campus. But on the typical campus, bookselling has become a clumsy monopoly. At not a few colleges, management of the bookshop is turned over to a syndicated food-catering service, as a sideline. Most managers of such official bookshops would fail as dishwashers.