■ COMMENTARY
Professors could prevent students’ buyback woes
It happens at the and of every
term I'm at the University Book
store's buy boi-k counter, gripping
my fat. $60 textbook so tight that
my knuckles are turning white. I
am broke, my financial aid has
dried up I'm counting on getting
some money I wick from that book
I step up to the counter and
hand it over, praying for the full
BO percent refund The counter
person takes my book and says.
“That'll be five dollars "
“Five dollars,’' I exclaim "But
why?" Counter person informs
me that the edition has been
updated or that the professor will
no longer tie using that text, and
then offers me some candy that
is kept on the counter for occa
sions such as these.
I want to kick., holler and hurl
my twiok through a window. But
of course it's not counter person’s
fault. 1 know that it's irrational to
punish the messenger of ill tid
ings. It's not the bookstore's t.mit.
it has no control over publishing
prices. So I leave the bookstore,
furious and powerless
And in many ways students are
powerless. We have no ( ontrol
over the prices that publishers
set, nor do we control the many
factors that inflate book prii es.
The fiookstore does what it tan.
Each term it gives a 9 percent dis
count to students, last year the
bookstore gave students $640,000
worth of liook discounts out of its
own pocket. According to man
ager Jim Williams, only 50 uni
versity bookstores of some 3,500
nationwide stores offer any dis
count, so we're pretty lucky
The bookstore also buys books
back when possible, but when
professors deride to change books
or update an edition, the book
Gaym: Forman
store can't do a thin#
But all is not lost Professors,
if willing, could be our knights
in shining armor. They could
help contain students' textbook
costs. It would take a bit of work
on everyone's (inrt. but when stu
dents are paying up to $300 a
term for books, someone needs to
do something.
In this fine institution, it is
common practice to update edi
tions every two years When a
Imok is updated, the student who
wants to sell hack the Ixxik loses
his or her 60 pen ent buy bar k
price The student who then buys
the new edition must pay full
price for the book, prices as high
as $70. Kvery two years, two sets
of students lose money.
So why the practice of updat
ing? Though publishers often
update editions, professors and
departments are not required to
use the newer edition. They
could opt to use the older edition
If there were a shortage of the old
er edition, the bookstore could
stor k both editions. In most cas
es. the updated editions are
almost identical to their prede
cessors.
If a Imok is to fie updated, there
ought be a legitimate reason for
it A new cover and a few rewrit
ten chapters does not cut it. Some
though! should go into the de< i
sion of whether or not to update,
rather than rely on the wasteful
tradition of updating every two
years
I have to wonder if professors
give any thought to updating and
changing books Do they realize
that with the stroke of a fain, they
can put a student in financial
straits or a! the very least make
tight budgets inutii tighter’’ I have
had some airing profs, who a< tu
o 11 v chose not to assign a partic
ular book because it was too
expensive Hut it si*ems that pro
fessors had that money ami oth
er lowly factors should not drive
their teaching.
Hut they must realize that mon
ey does drive our education
What they don't seem to realize
is that the amount of money we
shell out for hooks adversely
affects our edm ation.
Sometimes a hook will he
worth its high prii e. and it
should l*> assigned. Hut too rnanv
students are paying too much
money for laaiks that don't tea* h
them much All professors need
to think before they act
I he bookstore is w illing and
able to work with professors to
help students save money If pro
fessors teaching annual classes
would guarantee to use the same
hook the following year, the
bookstore would then buy hai k
the laxiks after the term in which
they were used The student tak
ing the class would get a fat
refund, and next year's student
could buy the tiook for the used
price I bis wouldn't work in
every case and for every class, hut
it could work for some
And finally wo have that
unquestioned practice of prafes
sors assigning their own txxiks. a
sort of academic masturbation.
This happens more in some
departments than others Pro
fessors claim that they assign
their own books bec ause their
books arc* the f>est option for the*
class they are teaching That's
n>al nii e in print ipal. but unfor
tunately that's ail too seldom tin*
reality.
The reality is that students are
often assigned texts that an* inap
propriate for the class in which
they ant used Sometimes we an*
required to buy poorly written
texts, or buy a twxik that is unnec -
essary for the class. One has to
wonder why so many of these
"lemon" texts hap(H*n to fx* writ
ten by the professor.
Perhaps I have l wen extraordi
narily unluc ky, hut the majority
of professor-si ribed texts that I
have been assigned have been ter
rible One such book was bln
tantly aimed at businesses, and
was not very relevant for the stu
dent audiem i*
It seems clear that professors
are not the most ideal parties to
ob|ei lively judge the academic
worth of their hooks
It’s not that professors ore
greedy; tiie\ aren't getting ric h off
of book sales In the academic
world, the golden rule is ’’pub
lish or perish “ When students
fitly their professors books, it
helps to guarantee that professor's
ncademu position by providing
a demand for their work I think
in many cases it's an ego Ixxist to
assign your own creation But
we're not here to pad their hook
sales It's not our responsibility
to help them sex tire their tenures
They are here for us. they need
to he reminded of tfiut If their
(looks are not assigned at other
schools on tin* Iwsis of tint luniks'
merit, then maybe they should
write bettor hooks.
Some professors do write use
ful, insightful hooks, and some
professors need to assign their
own books because the topic is
so extremely specialized that no
one else has written about it.
These should be the ex< option
al and rare cases If profs are
going to assign their own books,
there had better In* some intense
soul searching ns to why.
So students, stop shouting at
the bookstore people If you are
getting angry and frustrated with
liook pm **s, go talk to your pro
fessors Ask them to work with
you and to tako your needs into
ai i mint We i an control hook
pru es. we |ost have to push acad
emia's hand a hit because if we
don't speak up and give profits
sors .1 nudge, it will he we. the
students, who get the proverbial
shaft every time
Gaylr Forman is a columnist
for the Kincrnld
■ CORRECTION
ITie editorial in the ()< t _’-l
Emerald inc orret tly reported
that a Him k Student Union
offu er i ailed the Student Sen
ate rot ist for refusing tlm
USD's funding request for a
new computer The offii er in
fact telletl the computer fund
ing policy, and not the Senate,
racist.
The Emerald regrets the
error, hut otherwise stands by
the editorial
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