CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas will continue providing funding and office space to The Oxford American magazine after the school’s board of trustees approved a new five-year agreement with the publication Friday.
The new agreement follows an investigation that led to the firing of the magazine’s two top editors and concerns about its lingering debt to the university.
Under the agreement, a memorandum of understanding, the Conway university will get new benefits, including two unpaid internships each year, an annual Oxford American event on campus, two spots on a newly created editorial board and two full-page advertisements in each issue of the quarterly magazine.
The arrangement also provides a level of financial security for a magazine with a rocky history that has been stabilized by $700,000 in advances from UCA since the two organizations first partnered in 2004.
“UCA was the school that stepped forward to support the magazine eight years ago,”Oxford American Publisher Warwick Sabin said. “That’s something the magazine will always be grateful for. We wanted to respect the investment they made and meet their requirements to continue.”
The plan approved Friday differed little from drafts released earlier except for revising the magazine’s debt from $690,000 to $700,000.
The magazine’s board will likely approve the agreement next week, Sabin said.
In 2004, The Oxford American, which former editor Marc Smirnoff founded in 1992 in Oxford, Miss., moved to UCA. Since then, the publication’s business offices have moved to Little Rock though its editorial offices remain in Conway.
Under the agreement, UCA will continue to provide $50,000 in annual funding and two offices to the magazine. In exchange, The Oxford American will work to repay the $700,000, immediately turning over any cash pledges from outside donors made toward that debt and giving UCA at least 25 percent of its profits when it sees a “positive cash flow.”
The agreement also includes a stipulation that UCA and Oxford American leaders will meet annually to review the publication’s financial condition. Either party can withdraw from the agreement at the end of any fiscal year if it provides 90 days notice, but the magazine would still owe the university any outstanding debt, the agreement said.
UCA President Tom Courtway recommended approval of the agreement to the trustees Friday, saying the magazine’s reputation and wide circulation would draw interest to the campus and its writing program.
“We may have some financial obligation, but we are gaining, in my mind, some tangible benefits,” he said.
UCA trustee Kay Hinkle, who was on the board when it signed the original agreement, questioned the value of continuing the partnership.
“I’ve yet to see a legitimate reason for continuing it,” she said. “I just think after three to five years, if something’s not successful in life, you ought to move on to something else.”
Hinkle later joined with five other trustees voting in favor of the revised agreement. Board member Brad Lacy was unable to attend the meeting.
Trustee Elizabeth Farris said the agreement may provide the magazine with extra incentive to repay the money UCA had provided in the past.
“I’m thinking if we walk away from that relationship ... I’m concerned we won’t get any of that back,” she said.
Sabin, who was not at the meeting, said in an interview he was confident the magazine could build its bottom line to begin repaying the money.
“We’ve made a lot of progress over the last four years, and we’ve done that at a time when the overall economy has been challenging and the state of the print media industry has been especially challenging,” he said.
On July 19, Rick Massey, chairman of the magazine's board of directors, indicated he personally was going to help reduce the magazine’s debt to UCA by $69,000 a year for five years, starting immediately.
Massey said by telephone Friday that he made the first payment within days to the magazine, which was in turn to forward it to the university.
But UCA spokesman Jeff Pitchford, in response to a question, said in an e-mail Friday, “We are not aware of any payment being paid at this point.”
“Warwick’s had the money,” Massey said. “My guess is that he wanted to make sure this all [the arrangement with UCA] got worked out.”
Sabin said later that he had delayed forwarding the money “because of the negotiations” with UCA. “That's just the procedure we were following,” he said.
Asked who made that decision, Sabin said he did.
He said he will send the money to UCA “within the next few days.”
Sabin said he would have sent the money to UCA if the magazine had been told to leave the campus.
The new agreement follows a tumultuous time for the magazine.
An investigation by the magazine’s board led to the July firing of Smirnoff and Carol Ann Fitzgerald, the managing editor, over allegations of wrongdoing, including sexual harassment and serving alcohol to minors.
The magazine has since adopted UCA’s recommendations, including regular training to prevent sexual harassment.
In September, Sabin hired former Harper’s magazine editor Roger Hodge to lead the magazine. Hodge, who lives in New York, commutes to Arkansas for about a week each month to work with the magazine staff, Sabin said.
Information for this article was contributed by Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/13/2012