A SCANDAL ADMINISTRATION WENT [TROUBLE]

scandal that the administration went to all this [trouble] to do a cover-up of what happened.”

The Book

On the front page of Skyhorse Publishing’s website is Blake Bailey’s “Philip Roth: The Biography,” which W.W. Norton & Company pulled from production in April of 2021. Skyhorse announced that they would be publishing the biography in May of 2021, within weeks of W. W. Norton & Company dropping it. Since then, they have also published Bailey’s memoir “The Splendid Things We Planned.” Skyhorse, a Manhattan-based publishing company founded in 2006 by Tony Lyons - who has been labeled “the last radical publisher” - is distributed by Simon & Schuster.

Skyhorse describes themself on their website as “dedicated to publishing books that make people’s lives better, whether that means teaching them a hobby, bringing them a unique and important story, or encouraging them to fight against injustices, conspiracies, or abuses of power. The company maintains a firm stance against censorship and aims to provide a full spectrum of political, theological, cultural, and philosophical viewpoints to counter the increasingly biased environment in mainstream media.”

Positive reviews of their publishing process include names such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tucker Carlson. Skyhorse is notorious for publishing highly controversial content. Authors include Alex Jones, a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist who Skyhorse describes as the “most controversial man on earth” and reviews label as “the most misunderstood guy on the planet.” His book, “The Great Reset: And the War for the World,” is about “the global elite’s international conspiracy to enslave humanity and all life on the planet.”

Skyhorse has also published Woody Allen, JFK conspiracy theories, anti-vaccination accounts, and on January 10, 2023, an account of the January 6 insurrection. The book has a foreword written by Darren Beattie, who previously was a speechwriter for Trump, and who was fired for participating in a panel in a conference popular with white nationalists. He also created a conspiracy that PolitiFact named as its 2021 Lie of the Year.

In June, Skyhorse announced that they would be publishing another book by Bailey: his upcoming memoir titled “Repellent: Philip Roth, #MeToo, and Me” which will be released on April 18, 2023.

“In the era of cancel culture, get a behind the scenes look at the journey to the critically acclaimed Philip Roth: The Biography and its “canceled” subject and author,” reads the heading.

In the description, Bailey describes the sexual harassment and rape allegations as “rumors… about Bailey’s own private life.” It also says that the book will look back on Bailey’s work with Phillip Roth and the time shortly after the release of the biography, during which “ominous forces were afoot.”

The description also advertises that “Bailey … frankly describes his own wayward behavior, and reflects on the extent to which writers’ personal lives should affect the perception of their work.”

It also includes a “clear-eyed examination of the perils courted by any writer or artist—fallible human beings, after all—in the era of cancel culture.”

The book, which is only available in hardback, is already on sale for $25.10.

The Mace & Crown reached out to Skyhorse Publishing for comment, and for an advance copy of Bailey’s “Repellent.” We received no response despite repeated requests.

“It seems desperate,” said Anderson. “I’m not going to read it, and I don’t really care about what he has to say. #MeToo is supposed to center the stories of survivors. And I think it says a lot about his character that [this is] his response to all of this.”

Despite the numerous sexual assault and harassment allegations leading to Bailey’s fall from stardom, Bailey’s “cancelation” doesn’t seem to have stuck. With all of his books republished through Skyhorse and another on the way, the students and professors he impacted have been left scrambling for closure while Bailey continues to write.

“[Blake Bailey’s book] is going to open up all these wounds again,” said Moberly. “All of this could have been stopped when he was here if somebody had just listened to what people were saying. And somebody had taken action about it. All of it could have been stopped.”

“Kaufman and MGB [Mills Godwin Building] Elevators Out of Service Beginning 11/14/2022” reads the student announcement email that has been sent daily to over 23,000 students for the past several months.

The elevator in the Mills Godwin Building is expected to return to operation in late March 2023, and the elevator in Kaufman Hall is expected to be back in service towards the end of May.

The email highlights a persistent issue at ODU: accessibility.

Last October, in a public forum held by President Brian Hemphill, student Mya Godwin pointed out that many handicap ramps on campus are inoperable, and the handicap lift in the Batten Arts and Letters Building had been unusable for weeks.