Alonso Yanez
The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) board of trustees discussed textbook issues at their March 7 meeting.
Matt Corwin, president of the Associated Students Union at East Los Angeles College, spoke about textbook prices and Senate Bill (SB) 832.
The bill, introduced in Sacramento by Sen. Ellen Corbett, would “force disclosure on the textbook companies of various things they have been hiding and have allowed them to influence the prices the students end up paying,” Corwin said.
According to research conducted by the General Accounting Office and independent student groups, textbook prices are, as of 2005, 26 percent of the cost of tuition at an average four-year university and 72 percent of tuition at the average community college.
“This student senate with the cooperation of the administration could limit edition changes. That is, publishers changing editions every two years forcing students to buy new books,” Corwin added.
Mona Field, member of the LACCD board of trustees, said that she and Ben Smith, campus field organizer for California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), went recently to Sacramento to talk to legislators about the textbook issue.
In a later phone interview with Field from her office at Glendale Community College, she commented that it is wrong to get students excited about SB 832 because it is not going to lower textbook prices suddenly.
She explained that all SB 832 will do is make sure information about textbooks is made available.
“It is a disclosure bill. I hate for it to be treated as if it is some kind of solution,” said Field
“It is a very minor step,” she said.
While the bill states that the production and pricing of college textbooks deserves a high level of attention from educators and lawmakers because textbooks have a big impact on the quality and affordability of higher education, it also charges that textbook publishers artificially inflate prices.
This is done by various practices, such as undermining the used book market by producing new editions that contain few changes, “bundling” textbooks with additional items, such as dictionaries, that students and faculty do not need and keeping faculty members in the dark about the costs of textbooks, so that they are unable to make educated textbook-ordering.
“We should educate the faculty because a faculty member can find out pretty much everything that is listed in the bill,” Field said.
“All you have to do is talk to the publishers’ representatives that comes to sell the books and say, ‘When is the next edition coming? What are you bundling?'”
LACCD board student trustee Luis Gomez said that although they “want to reduce prices among many other things, we are concerned we are not going to be able to do everything.”
Gomez is currently focused on the Community College Initiative, which would go on the 2008 ballot.
“Everything starts in your own campus. You need to pressure your student leadership so that they will pressure politicians in Sacramento or Washington,” Gomez said.
Smith also participated in the interview and explained that CALPIRG, as a student public interest group, researched the textbook issue problem and came up with solutions, allowing students, legislators and faculty to solve the problem.
He also said there are many reports on CALPIRG’s Web site that inform the public on the textbook initiative.
However, Field later clarified that the board has not taken a position on the legislation yet.
“I happened to be there with students as an individual. I am not representing the entire board.”
“We have no official position on any legislation that is here yet,” said Field.
She concluded by stating that it is important to be honest and realistic and tell students that SB 832 is only a small part of a bigger puzzle.
“Personally, I was not there when CALPIRG decided that this was the best approach. I may have had a different approach,” said Field.
Additional reporting by Natalie Yemenidjian.