The Brown & White

Do we really need to spend so much on textbooks each and every semester? The answer is a resounding "no!"

I urge Lehigh University to consider an alternative student-friendly policy when it comes to the selection of textbooks for classes. The current policy here at Lehigh is that the professors make their selection of the textbook, and more particularly, the edition, without giving enough consideration to the unreasonable costs to the students.

How many of us have spent more than $700 a semester on textbooks? Why isn't there a mandate here at Lehigh to avoid the selection of the newest and consequently most expensive edition for textbooks, or at least to coordinate use of the prior edition?

The reality is that the current edition often costs upwards of five times more than an immediate earlier edition. Look on Ebay or Half.com and you will see a prior edition of a textbook for $45 when the current edition costs more than $200 in our bookstore.

It doesn't take a neuroscience major to realize why publishers constantly offer new editions, but it is less understood why our professors and our university fail to take a stand for reducing the onerous costs on the students to have to keep up with the publishing house money machine.

Yes, some new editions are necessary due to significant changes since the prior edition. But we all have seen that most edition updates are nothing more than a shuffling of content with a new cover fashioned purely with profit in mind.

I don't suggest taking the decision away from the professors to independently select the texts for their classes. Rather I suggest a departmental or university-wide mandate that if the professor considers selecting the newest edition he or she should first undertake a good faith evaluation to determine whether there is genuine need for choosing the glossy new edition.

If the current edition is selected because of significant changes or due to the unavailability of the earlier edition then the professor should include with each assignment reference to the pages or sections of the immediate prior edition. That way those of us who choose the older edition can still be up to date. By the way, there are some very thoughtful professors here who do precisely this.

Also, a copy or two of that new edition text should be held in the library. This will allow students who cannot afford to purchase the newest edition or those who just don't want to lug their textbooks to the library to utilize the university resources.

I am told that the library carries the chosen text edition only at the request of the professor. How about working with student representatives to reduce these unfair and avoidable costs?

The administration can show us all that they are listening by offering and publicizing open forums here on campus to discuss and consider some of the important issues raised in The Brown and White.

The administration would score big if it were more apparent that they were actually considering and implementing suggested policy changes.