Text use decried, defended
By DAN McGINNIS
Of the Emerald
"As you may have already
noticed, the assigned textbook for
this class is my own. Granted, this
is corruption, but it's minor corrup
tion." Such were the words of his
tory professor Tom Govan as he
spoke about the "The Last Best
Hope," that he and two other his
torians wrote.
Instructors who use their own
texts have been accepted in
academia for many years. Approx
imately 20 instructors at the Uni
versity are using their own books
this term.
"Almost every professor who
writes a textbook uses it in his or
her class," says a woman at the
University Bookstore.
"They place their orders with us
and we get them the books they
want, nothing more If it happens
to be their own book, that's fine.”
It seems like a perfectly natural
thing for instructors to supplement
their lectures with their own
books, but the practice offends
some people. Doug Olson, a
junior in journalism, is one of
them.
"I couldn't believe professors
actually assigned their own books
to classes when I first came to col
lege. They’re obviously out to
make some bucks, and they know
that students have no choice but
to shell out the money for text
books they can only get at the
bookstore. It takes a big ego for a
teacher to do that.”
Olson had to pay $19 for a re
quired, 150-page book this term.
“The only way I'll ever get my
money's worth out of that book.”
he remarks bitterly, "is if I live to
be a hundred years old and sell it
as an antique.”
Another student who disagrees
with the practice is Sharon Cush
ing, an art major. "The class is
exposed to only one point of view
when the assigned text has been
written by the instructor. That’s not
really fair or a good way to teach.”
Govan says he receives around
3 cents for every copy of his book
that is sold. “The book hasn't done
well,” he says, “and besides, the
thing passes through too many
hands for me to profit very much
from it.”
Ed Ebbighausen, a physics pro
fessor and author of the two text
books he uses in his astronomy
classes, says 15 per cent of the list
price is a pretty standard figure for
the author’s share of sales.
Ebbighausen's astronomy clas
ses are structured for the non
math student and he wrote his
texts with that in mind. Although
his first book sold well, the sec
ond, more comprehensive text,
has not.
“They're perfect for the classes
I teach," he says. “The reason the
second book has not sold is pack
aging. Packaging is the key ele
ment in a successful book be
cause very often an instructor is
teaching a class in which he
knows little or nothing about the
subject matter. He assigns a book
that’s pretty and disregards the
actual content.”
Ebbighausen then pulls a plain
looking book from the shelf.
"This, in my opinion, is one of the
finest books ever written on as
tronomy, but it didn’t sell because
of how it looks,” he remarks. He
flips through the book, pointing out
the dingy paper.
“I wrote my second book as a
cheaper alternative to the $15 as
tronomy texts. Mine sells for $8,
but it has not been successful be
cause it lacks slickness and color
that seems to sell books these
days,” Ebbighausen added.
Patty vows captors used rorce
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A
sad-laced Patricia Hearst, break
ing months of silence, swore
Monday that she was never a ter
rorist and unblinkingly incrimi
nated a long list of participants in
her underground voyage
In one of the strangest confes
sions ever given on a witness
stand, Hearst admitted—-with her
jurors absent—that she had rob
bed a bank but said she was
forced to do so by her Sym
bionese Liberation Army kidnap
pers, who threatened to execute
her if she refused.
"I was told that I would be kil
led,” Hearst said in response to
questioning by defense attorney
F. Lee Bailey. She appeared to be
fighting back tears at that brief
moment in her other wise emotion
less testimony before U S District
Court Judge Oliver Carter.
She was threatened with death,
she said,"a hundred times... I don't
know, I can t count how many
times." Harris alone, she said,
gave her a black eye four times.
But on cross-examination by
her prosecutor, Hearst admitted
she had “sort of” been given the
choice she spoke of on a tape—of
going home or staying to fight with
the SLA
“A few weeks before, SLA
leader Donald DeFreeze told me
the war council had been talking
about me staying with them,” she
said, “and I better start thinking
about it.
Later,'' she continued, “he
came in and said I could go home
or stay with them, and I didn't be
lieve him."
“You didn’t believe him?”
prosecuter James Browning
asked incredulously.
“No,” Hearst replied.
Communist forces gain capital
By the Associated Press
Communist-backed forces in
Angola rolled over Huambo, ad
ministrative capital of the
Western-supplied National Union
Monday, and began menacing
Silva Porto, its key military head
quarters. Britain acknowledged
that many of its citizens, appar
ently mercenaries, have been
killed in the embattled soutnwesi
African state
U.S. officials m Washington
said National Union — UNITA —
and National Front — FNLA —
troops pulled back to Silva Porto
and were fighting "a rear-guard
action” against Popular Move
ment — MPLA — forces after the
collapse of Huambo, 90 miles to
the west.
f
EUMA presents
The Western Opera Theatre
"The Barber of Seville"
Saturday, February 14, 1976
8:30 p.m., McArthur Court
FREE TICKETS available to U. of O. students Bring your cert, of
reg. and plastic I.D. with picture to the EMU MAIN DESK. U. ofO.
students with above I.D. may buy a $1.00 spouse ticket for spouse.
Limited number of tickets available
PIZMS
I m Alder
345-2628
Just off
Campus
Live Music
Wednesday and Friday Nights
9-Midnight
All sandwiches are available
on vour choice of bread.
Enjoy all sorts of
sandwiches:
Salami
Capicollu
Prosciutto
Corned Beef
Past ra no
Picnic Ham
Provolone Cheese
and other favorites
Happy Hour
Wed. & Fri. 7:00-9:00
50c Pitchers
SchliU Beer on draft
glass & 76c pitcher*.
Budget hearings set
Public budget hearings on 17 ASUO-funding programs,
governing bodies and contractors will be held today from 4 p.m. to
6 p.m. in the Forum Room, EMU.
Sponsored by the ASUO Executive, the hearings are de
signed to solicit student input for the annual budgeting process.
Students are encouraged to attend.
Programs discussed during today s hearings will
include governing bodies and informational and service
oriented agencies. Specific agencies on the agenda include:
Oregon Daily Emerald, ASUO Executive, Student Univer
sity Board, Incidental Fee Committee, Student Bar Association,
ASUO Legal Services, and the Inter-Fraternity Council.
GOD BLESS OUR PAD
TONIGHT
Hot Dog Night
15c each
SENIORS
PEACE CORPS
REPRESENTATIVE
ON CAMPUS FEBRUARY 11-12
Interviews will be scheduled for overseas openings in these fields:
Business administration
Accounting
Economics
Finance
Marketing
Computer Science
Bio-medical engineering
Architecture
Electrical Engineering
Electronics
Surveying
Regional/urban planning
Mechanical Engineering
Industrial Management
Contact:
Telephone:
David James
Office of Career Planning and
Placement, Susan Campbell
Hall
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
686-3235