Page 18 - The Michigan Daily - Summer, 1986
Research
stressed
over
edueation
Is education dead? New students
may think so, especially after being
exposed to the University's emphasis
on research.
Each year, the University budgets
nearly a billion dollars for research.
With a faculty famous for research
competence, this figure will continue
to grow as University scientists strive
for knowledge, prestige, and money.
The ultimate cost may be the
educational quality of the University,
especially at the undergraduate level.
For several years, students have
criticized the heavy reliance on
teaching. assistants. Students and
parents, frustrated with language
problems between students and TAs,
have even gone to their state
legislators with their complaints,
leading to a bill that may require
minimum communication standards
for all TAs in Michigan.
Other proposals for alleviating the
problem abound. Separate teaching,
and research faculties have been
suggested, as has the cutting back or
elimination of TAs. Meanwhile, the
University's commitment to research
Students endure reselling books
Linda Wilson
Vice president for research
grows - millions of dollars in resear-
ch proposals are submitted to the
government and private funding
agencies each month.
The research emphasis also leads to
ethical questions: Is the growing
reliance on the defense department
for research funds dangerous? Do ad-
vances in human medicine justify the
harm done to animals for some
research? Should the freedom of
inquiry of University researchers be
limited to protect others against
potentially deadly effects of the
research? University faculty, studen-
ts and administrators are all
wrestling with these problems.
- Rob Earle
By DOUG WOLFE
College textbooks can teach
everything from the history of
Europe to the structure of DNA.
But some students trying to sell their
books back this spring are
discovering that intellectual value
does not always translate into
dollars and cents.
Steve Borsand, an engineering
senior, usually saves his textbooks
for future reference. When he
decided to sell them back to
Ulrich's last year, however, he
was disappointed. "They gave me
five bucks for five books,' Bor-
sand said. "What a ripoffA!r"
THE THREE Ann Arbor
booksellers who buy books back
from customers - Ulrich's Books,
University Cellar, and Barnes and
Noble - insist that they do not
want to cheat anyone.
"If we think a book is going to be
used again (at the University)
next year, and it's in good con-
dition, then we'll pay 50 percent,"
said Irv Scheel, a textbook depar-
tment manager at Ulrich's.
"That's the same price that the
national book wholesalers charge
us for a used book."
New copies of hardcover books
such as the standard text for Math
115 run close to $40. Ulrich's will
pay students up to $20 for a used
copy, and the other stores follow
the same policy.
"OF COURSE, there are limits
to the number of copies we need of
each book," Scheel said. "And the
price will fall as our stock in-
creases."
If the retailers determine that a
book will not be required next
year, they may still buy it in order
to resell it to one of several
national book wholesalers. These
companies buy and sell used books
from college book stores across
the country.
In that case, according to Jim
Junker of the Barnes and Noble
textbook department, the local
retailer will pay a student the
wholesale price.
UNFORTUNATELY for studen-
ts, wholesalers only pay 10 percent
to one-third of a book's original list
price.
To some student's however, set-
tling for wholesale prices is accep-
table. When publishers introducea
new edition of an old book, the old
edition becomes worthless. Not
even the national wholesalers are
willing to buy outdated editions.
Professor Edward Rothman, for
example, is currently writing the
second edition of a basic text book
for Statistics 402. Students who
took the course winter term and
paid as much as $24 for the old
edition will not be able to sell it
back.
Textbook publishers help
create this situation by frequently
producing new editions of books
without substantial changes in
content, according to Junker.
"When a new edition comes out,"
he said, "the old edition is wor-
thless."
But Parker Ladd, director of the
higher education division of the
American Association of
Publishers, contends that
publishers produce new editions
only when they are truly needed.
"We publish revised editions
whenever the academic world
demands them," Ladd said.
To determine which books will
be required for future courses, the
local bookstores jointly operate a
Text Book Reporting Service that
solicits information by mail from
University professors and depar-
tments. Up to 75 pcent of the
professors have not =et released
their book selections or fall term,
according to Sue Zel .r, a service
administrator.
ZELLER SAID she does not ex-
pect to have a compl te book list
until October 1. Until then, each
store's employees will have to rely
on experience and intuition when
they buy back books.
According to Scheel, many
professors and departments are
fickle with their book selection.
"Biology 305 is a good example,"
he said. "For the last five fall ter-
ms, the professor has used five dif-
ferent text books."
Textbook publishers, who
make no money on used nooK
sales, provide additional pressure.
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