UND Writer’s Conference Faces Funding Issues

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — An annual writers' conference at the University of North Dakota could be in jeopardy because of money concerns.

The new dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences has asked organizers of the annual spring event to come up with a long-term funding plan or consider scaling back or even ending the conference.

The event has brought students, faculty and townspeople together with literary giants for more than four decades.

The Grand Forks Herald reports that Dean Debbie Storrs says it's an important conference and she'd like to see it continue, but that "this is one of many competing demands for resources."

It costs as much as $100,000 a year to bring nationally and internationally known writers to campus for a weeklong series of readings and panel discussions.