OP/ED Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 5A How the 'U' can make textbook buying easier oIG Ki ILLUTRATON B KIMLEUN It At term, up on to the get th first ing, a books cost m iPod N Stud are co the ris These thing a demic is on than in becaus tions fr and the efits th employ and bo of high are text what c Univer BY DAVID RUSSELL In July 2005,the Government Accountability Office released a the beginning of every report detailing the rising costs University students load of textbook prices. The average school supplies and head price textbooks has gone up 186 ir local textbook stores to percent over the last 20 years. he books they need. The The report didn't reveal much trip is the most shock- beyond what students already s students learn that the know - that prices have been for one class can easily driven by the CDs and other core than their shiny new supplemental materials that the lano. textbook companies use to bulk ents and their parents up their books. Publishers have ntinually perplexed by claimed that instructors demand ing cost of textbooks. these features, which are needed days, the cost of every- to keep pace with technological associated with the aca- advances. Most students know, University experience however, that CDs typically the rise at rates faster do nothing more than adding flation. Tuition has risen a smidge of extra weight to the e of declining appropria- book and are often left out of om the state government instructors' course plans. e rising costs of the ben- The GAO report also found e University gives to its that frequent revisions have ees. The cost of room kept the prices of books high ard has gone up because and that books used for intro- her energy prices. Why ductory courses are the most tbooks so expensive, and frequently revised. Courses like an instructors and the General Chemistry and Math sity do about it? 115 tend to attract large num- bers of freshmen, who are oftet unaware of how to get the bes price for their books. Publisher contend that instructors wan the most up-to-date edition for books, and even cite a pol of instructors where 80 percen of the respondents replied tha they wanted information in thei textbooks to be as current a possible (although that poll wa commissioned by the Ameri can Association of Publishers) But do students and professor; really need a new edition every two years just because an autho added a few more exercises tc Chapter 12? Also, the classe where textbooks are being revised most are the introduc tory classes, which typically see little change in course conten from year to year. So what can be done tc make this process more studen friendly? Professors should post a lis of textbooks for their class or the online course guide so tha students know what material to the public. Throug out our conversation, the expressed genuine concei for student interests an seemed generally willin to cooperate with the neec of their customers. McNamara is an L junior and a member of h * Daily's editorial boa n to buy and how much they will t have to spend before signing up s for a class. Thankfully, some t professors and even entire s departments have already 1 begun doing this. The mathI t department and the economics t department should be lauded; r for making a textbook list for s all their classes available on s their respective websites, and it - can only be hoped that the stu-1 dents have taken full advantagel s of the information there. y Unfortunately, with only r a few exceptions, professorsI o in popular departments like s history, political science and g psychology have been negli- - gent in posting reading lists ini e advance. t Last year, then-LSA Student Government President Andrew o Yahkind tried to get the Col- t lege of Literature, Science, and the Arts to make instructors t post their book lists online and n more readily t available to v s students. Q' i ;h- ey rn d g ds SA he rd. ILLUSTRATION BY KIM LEUNG He was unable to get the Col- lege to do that, and whether current president LSA-SG President Joanna Slott will make any progress on the issue remains to be seen. Not much has changed for students buying textbooks since last year. More profes- sors and departments are mak- ing the effort to help students by making them aware of the books they need to buy, but most classes continue to leave students in the dark. Yes, text- book publishers want to make money, and that's fine. That just means that it's up to wise professors and administra- tors here at the University to help students and their parents alleviate one part of the ever- increasing cost of a college education. Russell is an LSA junior and associate editorial page editor. J Can they kick you out BY KIRSTY McNAMARA Upon receiving a book list from one of her professors, a friend of mine went to Shaman Drum Bookshop to copy down the titles and prices of the textbooks she would need for the upcom- ing semester. While in the process of gathering this information, an employee approached my friend and asked her to leave, warn- ing that she was setting a bad example for the rest of the customers and that Sha- man Drum does not allow students to write down text- book information. After hearing several students recount similar experiences, I sat down with the store managers, Julia Cowlishaw and Stephen Smith, as well as the owner, Karl Pohrt. They explained that there is no specific store policy that prevents students from copying information such as titles prices, and ISBN codes. They also highlighted the store's website as, which provides the prices of new books for individual classes and allows students to preor- der them online, thus avoid- ing the long lines during the first week of classes. They also briefly dis- cussed possible website updates that would supply more textbook information KNOWYOUR BOOKSTORES Michigan Union Bookstore: Located in the basement of the Michigan Union, the current store is owned by Barnes and Noble. The bookstore's history dates back to 1969,whenthe Uni- versity Board of Regents voted to allow a student-run bookstore in the Union. The decision was a victory for students, who had waged a long campaign for a bookstore of their own - which culminated in a takeover of the LSA Building led by Students for a Democratic Society. That store lasted until the 1980s, when its decision to move off campus to avoid contributing to Union renovations in 1979 proved unsuccessful. * Shaman Drum: This tiny book- store with the long staircase to the textbook floor primarily sells books for humanities and social science classes. It was founded 16 years ago by Karl Pohrt, who still owns the store today. Many pro- fessors order their books only at Shaman Drum. *Ulrich's and MichiganBook and Supply: These stores are owned by the Nebraska Book Company. Today, the privately owned company operates 250 college book- stores across the country, with 13 locations in Michi- gan, including three stores at Michigan State University and three stores at Eastern Michigan University. Dur- ing the last fiscal year, NBC made a record gross profit of just over $169 million. BY CHRIST As college have our own textbooks. Min investment in o chemistry - ri not to go to me of mine still co about the $65 lab We know, firsth textbook indust money - the and study guide unnecessary nev the used-book wrap that keep our books if we drop the course, boring the book There might versity can do a of the publishin howeverone ea the University the burden of te make sure stude they'll need wel While camp to have a vir textbook sales, students cheape books to the i that publishers s tion of the cost t tively rich Ame Buying textb seem like yet ket triumph in world. But here doesn't work as eyed Ayn Rand You see, there' market becausi mation -no o damn books to It's a pretty o students have Former Michig bly President H A simple change OPHER ZBROZEK posting textbook lists on the College however, that it would be feasible to of Literature, Science, and the Arts implement and enforce any require- students, we all course guide a goal during his term ment that LSA professors tell their horror stories about five years ago. (Incidentally, he won students what books they will need. ie involves a $250 office by walking around campus "It would be a difficult thing to actu- one term of organic wearing a sandwich board and talk- ally require," Megginson said, add- ght before I decided ing to students for a year before the ing that faculty often decide what ed school. A friend election, I kid you not. MSA presi- books to use at the last minute. "This implains, years later, dential hopefuls, take note.) is a very strong faculty-governance b book he used twice. Despite his efforts, only 20 per- school, and generally requirements and, all the tricks the cent of LSA courses then offered that are imposed on faculty have ry uses to grab our listed textbook information by the to be imposed by the faculty them- bundled CD-ROMs end of his term. While there certain- selves, not by the administration" s we don't need, the ly are courses whose professors are The undergraduate chairs of individ- w editions that kill off thoughtful enough to let prospective ual LSA departments, Megginson sarket and the shrink students know which books they will said, might be better able to get their s us from returning need, I doubt from my experiences faculty to list textbooks online. have the temerity to that the overall fraction of courses Yahkind hopes to still make after seeing just how providing textbook information has some progress, saying that LSA- actually is. gone up terribly much since. SG now plans to talk to individual not be much the Uni- I asked LSA Student Government departments about making syllabi bout the broader sins President Andrew Yahkind if LSA- available earlier online. He suspects, ig industry. There is, SG was doing anything about text- though, that the LSA administra- sy and obvious move book prices. He's well aware of the tion could require professors to list could make to lessen problem: "People don't talk about it;" syllabi earlier. "I still believe that, xtbooks on students: he says, "but not everyone buys text- if the faculty and if the administra- nts know what books books for their courses." That alone tion wanted it enough, it could be 1 before classes start. ought to give pause to professors required;' he said. us bookstores used convinced that this year's latest-and- That seems right to me. It doesn't tual monopoly over greatest new edition - available do much good to get a softcover the Internet offers shrink-wrapped but not used, of version online for a third of the cost r options, from used course - really provides the best if the book doesn't show up until nternational editions education. a month into the term. Requir- sell overseas at a frac- Yahkind spoke about LSA-SG's ing that professors actually tell us hey charge compara- proposal this fall that would require which books we will need isn't rican kids. professors to post syllabi online two some grave imposition, regardless books online might weeks before classes start, in order to of the bureaucratic barriers. Such a another free mar- make sure students know what cours- simple change that would save stu- the post-Cold War es they were getting into and had dents money each semester is just as always, capitalism time to buy their books online. The the sort of policy that the faculty perfectly as a starry- administration's reaction? "Unfortu- and administration should support devotee might think. nately, the response I've gotten from if they're concerned about their stu- s a distortion in the the administration hasn't been too dents. We're the ones draining our e of imperfect infor- enthusiastic about setting any sort of families' finances and going into ne will tell us which deadline'" Yahkind said. debt ourselves to pay our profes- buy. The LSA administration, indeed, sors' six-figure salaries, after all. Get a $25 American Express Gift Card when you purchase any Samsung handset and sign up for service with MetroPCS, offer good until September 16, 2006. Plus, enter for a chance to win a Samsung Laptop Bundle valued at more than $4000! Visit a MetroPCS corporate store or authorized dealer for details. r... jt Y f 3 1 , w.Y X54 k l . 1 S t J www.metropcs.com Ann Arbor 4860 Washtenaw Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48108 734-444-0521 Clinton Twp. 40779 Garfield Rd. 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