Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2018)
College goes corporate BARNES & NOBLE TAKEOVER OF BOOKSTORE BRINGS $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 FOR COLLEGE BY VICTORIA DURLING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF To new students, the changes to the campus bookstore are not even changes - the way the bookstore looks n o w is th e only way they know the bookstore to be. Students w h o ’ve been on cam pus before this fa ll remem ber W einer W ednesday, $1 coffee and cheap snacks and they’re lam enting the loss of one of the hom iest and m ost individual spaces on cam pus. Former Clackam as Com m unity College President Joanne Truesdell began the framework in the 2016- 17 school year to decide which o f three com panies to bring into CCC to help the bookstore create a profit, rather than have the school subsidize the bookstore to keep it afloat. Between now and June 2021 Barnes & Noble will continue to operate in the CCC bookstore, th e school is guaranteed $200,000 in the contract’s first year, or 8 percent, 10 percent or 12 percent of all gross sales as per the contract - the terms are similar in the follow ing years. From m issing their daily Hot Pockets to mourning the loss o f their favorite brands o f tea, students miss the individuality and number of products that usdd to be offered in years passed. The new college president is seeing how the changes are playing out. “ I ’ve heard concerns and have concerns m yself about w hat th e reasons were for that and w hat the benefit is for students is going to be and for faculty and staff as w ell,” CCC President Tim Cook said about the addition of Barnes & Noble to the C C C bookstore. “ I know I’ve gone through the bookstore a few tim es and I guess I was surprised. I thought we ’ d have more in there and have more - more a lot of things. I go in about once a week and just check it out becausew hat I’ve been told Is that they’re continuing to add and they’re continuing to work on th a t.” W ith tuition already up an extra $7 per credit from the 2017-18 school year, many students already faced a tighter budget going into the new 2018-19 school year. so that students may access high-quality m aterials Extra costs on food, books and supplies from the without having to pay inflated store prices. bookstore are som ething they cannot afford. The C C C Course Reserve program is an o th er “ I believe there are more opportunities to rent and resource mandated by the college to be available to more digital options for students - the college was CCC students. A ll instructors are supposed to have very focused on low -cost textbooks for students, so a copy o f their class’ text available in their office, or we’re continuing to support th a t,” bookstore director on reserve for the term in the library for students to Carol DeSau said. access outside o f class tim e. Students, however, have expressed a different sentiment about the prices in the bookstore combined with the yearly tuition raise. . “ There are a few classes I really wanted to explore and take so badly, I was ju st too afraid I cou ld n’ t afford it,” Daisy Saucedo said. “ Before classes started I checked online for what books I heeded and it said I only needed one. However, in my first week I had to go buy a bunch of books which was super upsetting for m y w allet.” C C C librarian Jan e Littlefield and m any faculty members requested to read the contract to see what changes would be made on campus. “ There’s language in here about exclusivity clauses of what Barnes & Noble basically dictates, what faculty can and cannot put on their Moodle sites regarding where students would be purchasing their textbooks from . To a lot o f us it read as Barnes & Noble gets to say w h aty o u can and can ’ t tell your stud ents,” Littlefield said. Littlefield said students and instructors have options outside of the bookstore including Open Educational Resources, and services offered in the CCC library such as their Course Reserve option. Open Educational Resources are textbooks, vid eos, w orkbooks and more - m aterials students are paying for codes to access can be found for free online. Open Educational Resources are created by scholars, academics, teachers New Barnes & Noble products including children’s books have^taken the place of the old bookstore and researchers w ith open copyrights specifically backpack wall. Photos by SummerBarraza “ CCC’s bookstore w ill now become a money-generating line item fo r the College. It is very icky-feeling because o f where this money is likely coming fr o m - prim arily students’ pocket books, because students use the bookstore the most. Students have a rig h t to know that, ¡also advocate that students have a rig h t to know about textbook and course material purchasing alternatives.” ¿ 5 CCC Librarian, Jane Littlefield CCC students rely heavily on the bookstore and expect the school to offer cost-effective materials for the courses they take. Clackamas Print theclackam asprint.com ----- -------------- ------------------- — --------- October 17, 2018