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........................... Oct. 19 - Nov. 01, 2001
OTHER ISSUES .................... |
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A Textbook Climb Evolving Publisher=friendly Prices Plague SCC Bookstore |
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It's not that complicated, really. Publishers sell books, bookstores buy books, and students empty out their wallets. For anyone who has doubts about the existence of human nature, just stroll along the shelves of any college bookstore stacked with hundred-dollar textbooks and you'll find what many consider price gouging.
One book entitled Eagle Tea, Inc. has a tan cover and is staple bound. It contains 75 pages and costs $28. Another soft-cover book titled World-Class Contracting contains 301 pages and is priced at $60.
"Some of the prices are just astounding," SCC Bookstore Manager Mary Kelemen said.
The bookstore sells approximately 2.5 to 3 million dollars worth of textbooks every year, and usually spends a little over 2 million dollars on purchasing books and maintaining the store. Many publishers will give the SCC bookstore a 20% discount on their books, but the store raises the wholesale price a standard 25% to account for shipping and bookstore expenses - a common practice nationwide.
"We literally have no control over setting prices," Kelemen said. "[The] publishers have a monopoly."
Publishing companies have routinely raised the bar on textbook prices every June to keep up with inflation. But some argue that prices are too high to begin with since the over $300 many students spend each quarter on textbooks would go a lot further shopping for non-textbooks. Kelemen and other bookstore workers are among that group who are willing to admit that textbook prices have been unfairly increased.
"The [bookstore] staff would be the first to agree that the publishers' prices are really exorbitant," she said. Kelemen has her hands tied, however, unable to have a direct say in how the publishers mark their prices.
"We have to order what the professors tell us to order," she said. "Sometimes if the textbooks are very expensive, we call [the publisher]."
But students have trouble accepting this double standard between textbook prices and the standard of pricing for most other books. When the price of books costs half the amount of their tuition, many students feel they have been cheated.
In most cases the instructors have the final word on the financial fate of the students. Their effects on the prices are limited too, however, since they - like the bookstore - have no direct control over the costs of the books.
"I try not to change books so often so students can sell them back," tenure English professor, Gary Parks said. That's one way professors are trying to fight against the rising textbook monopoly. But Parks believes a lot is revealed in the way publishers go about advertising their products to instructors.
"You can tell they make a lot of money because they are willing to give away a bunch of samples," Parks said. "They give you a sample of anything you want to see." Parks points to an empty row of shelves that had previously held loads of samples as proof.
The main way college professors decide on which books they will use is through catalogues they receive in the mail from about 30 different publishing companies. To add to the instructors' interest, the publishers send representatives out to the campus to advocate their material. According to Parks, "they're pretty darn good" at what they do.
Though admittedly,instructors lack the ability to gauge textbook prices, they work hard to ease the financial pain by either selecting low priced books or by finding one book that fulfills the requirements of a few. "The professors struggle to choose [their] books," Dean of Humanities Norma Goldstein said.
"There is no set standard on how to go about selecting the best combination of low-priced and high-quality textbooks. "
"Different departments have different ways of selecting textbooks," Goldstein said. "They work very hard at it - they try to save the students some money."
A planning counsel is in place that meets twice a month that, among other things, helps primarily part-time staff in selecting textbooks.
A capitalist economy has kept the publishers honest, however. Other resources and companies have benefited from textbook prices by offering websites that act as a middleman for students selling or buying used books.
A common website that is used by many students to save them a little pocket change is www.Bigwords.com. It lists various online booksellers (including Barnes & Noble and Amazon) that have a variety of used or new books. In many cases, students have found used books at a discount price on the site.
The SCC bookstore has offered a buyback program for their benefit and the benefit of the students. Fifty percent of the original textbook price is reimbursed to those who turn in a textbook that will be used the in the following quarter. Ten to thirity percent is returned for textbooks not used in the next quarter.
Kelemen suggests that students ask their professors to consistently assign the same books for every quarter so that other students have a chance at buying used books from the bookstore. She also assures students that the SCC bookstore is working hard at making available as many used books as possible.
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| by Chris Collins | |
According to Kelemen, the bookstores aren't the beneficiaries of high-priced textbooks since they receive funding from Washington State and SCC only for the building and facilities. The money the store makes by selling books to students goes directly to providing their own equipment, shelving, supplies, and the staff payroll.
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| Open Forum, Open Minds | |
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"Peace can only be achieved through understanding," said Psychology instructor Diana Knauf, paraphrasing Albert Einstein. "Perhaps we need to think long and hard about our level of understanding of the world around us. Some people say our world has changed, I would suggest that perhaps with 9-11 we merely stepped into the world," she continued.
Knauf, a native New York citizen, was one of eight faculty speakers that took part in "A Reflection of September 11, 2001." The event was held on Oct. 11 in the Little Theater in the 1600 building, and was sponsored by The Worldly Philosophers' and Dismal Scientists' Society, The Model Arab League, Student Services and the Professional Development Program. It acted as an open forum for students and faculty to express their feelings and views regarding the attacks and their aftermath.
Knauf spoke about the individual effects caused by the attacks. She urged the audience to think of the victims as more than just a number and to remember them as individuals. She also reminded the crowd to not let the actions of a few be responsible for how Arab Americans as a whole are perceived.
Ernest Johnson, Multicultural Studies instructor and a practicing Muslim, spoke about the Muslim community. "The Muslim community is a vast and very diverse community consisting of a billion people. Most Muslims are not Arabs, many Arabs are not Muslims. There are 16 million Christians who are Arab. So we need to possibly revise our thinking about who in fact is the enemy," he stated. He continued by stating "If we want to be treated as individuals, we need to treat others as such and not judge them by the groups they belong to."
"If our end is freedom, justice and equality then it seems to me that our means should be consistent with that," said Johnson.
"Reflection" had two parts, the first part involved a panel of SCC instructors, whose disciplines ranged from economics to psychology, leading a roundtable discussion and expressing their views and how the events pertain to their academic field. After every panel member had a chance to share their viewpoint the discussion was opened up to audience questions.
Tim Payne, Economics instructor, emceed the event and spoke about the role America has played as a world citizen throughout history. He mentioned the environmental impact the United States has had on the world and the mixed results of America's involvement in the global community. Payne linked the animosity towards America that exists in the Middle East to the United States' role in the global community. In closing his statement Payne asked the audience to look into how Americans can make a more positive impact on the world
Kenny Lawson, Political Science instructor, made a historical analogy between the World Wars and their aftermath and the attacks on Sept. 11. Lawson made the point that "You cannot rest international stability on power. There has to be some element of give and take involved." Lawson stated that "To obtain justice power has to be used, but this power has to be used with caution." He also emphasized more focus should be put on the political issues at hand not just the military issues beacsue "At root this is a political issue not a military issue. And this is not something that is going to be solved with just the use of military force."
Lawson approached the issue of why resentment towards Americans exists in the Middle East as well. He said that the resentment is a result of no real political solution from the Gulf War and because U.S. sanctions are still in effect on Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. "We need a real new world order before the bombs begin falling and hurting more innocent people," said Lawson. He also made a cry for "A radical political solution that deals with Palestine and a state for Palestine."
"It is an economic war. Both in terms of trying to destabilize the finances of the terrorist and in their attempts to destabilize our economy. We have to keep aware of how we can engage in these wars without disrupting our ability to provide for our own well being," said Economics instructor Bob Francis. Francis expressed concern towards the millions of dollars that are being spent to drop bombs in Afghanistan in comparison to the thousands that are being spent to drop food packages for their citizens.
Francis also gave a word of caution. "We are at a crossroads as to where the United States is going to go, both in its culture and as a political and economic entity. We need to not allow this war to be hijacked for someone else's political approach."
History instructor, Terry Taylor followed Francis' warning by discussing the role of America as a superpower and how other superpowers have fared historically. He mentioned Britain's and Russia's failures at attempted warfare in Afghanistan.
Other panel members included James Jory, Business instructor, and History instructor Adam Sowards.
After the panel gave their views the audience was allowed time for discussion to ask questions. Questions ranged from the use of religion as a political tool to addressing the issue of our country as a superpower.
"Reflection" lasted from 11:30 a.m. until 12:20 p.m. and the forum was repeated at 12:30 p.m.
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| by Travis Hay | |
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