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April 16, 2008
By Armando Vega
Staff Writer
Wednesday was Lobby Day here at UIS, in Springfield, and across the state as a whole. Institutions of higher education and the constituent agents of such lent their voice s to state senators and representatives, in an appeal to get our elected officials to take higher education more seriously.
Students from UIS and UIUC first met at the LRH Great Room for breakfast with Chancellor Ringeisen, and then departed for state capitol grounds. Convening outside, just across the way from the capitol building under a large pitched tent, students then gathered to hear from various advocates for higher education.
Among the speakers were University of Illinois President B. Joseph White, and State Representatives Robert Pritchard and David Miller. SGA President Bob Skorczewski then took to the microphone, representing the Illinois Student Association, noting that anytime you have a flat-funding commitment from the state it usually amounts to an effectual cut when you factor in inflation (especially since the cost of higher education has generally increased at a faster rate than consumer goods in general).
“Seven-hundred to a thousand dollars a year on textbooks is outrageous. We need to make a stand right here, right now,” he said, extolling the crowd.
After a brief recess, the crowd dispersed to petition the representatives. Skorczewski sought out various senators, most of whom he’d had prior experience working with before through the ISA, in an attempt to get them on board for legislation seeking relief for students who perennially suffer sticker-shock when purchasing textbooks each year. Skorczewski attempted to get the Senators on board with the issue, in preparation for possible House passage of the bill or perhaps contingent upon its defeat in that chamber, so it could be taken up in the Senate.
Federal studies have determined that on average students can expect to fork over $700-$1000 a year on textbooks. Much of this cost borders on exploitation: many new editions contain very paltry substantive improvements (a few pages of actual new information, a new cover perhaps), and certainly in certain academic fields one can’t help but wonder if enough advances have been made to justify a new textbook for certain courses.
The practice of bundling (factoring into the cost CDs, passwords to publisher websites, etc.) without consumer choice also adds up. Surveys have shown that 65% of college professors “rarely” or “never” use bundled items in their courses; less than a quarter say they “always” do.
The bill, whose passage ISA has ardently pushed for, is HB 4903, the Transparency in College Textbook Publishing Practices Act.
Specifically, the act would require publishers to provide university bookstores (or other agents of purchase) the option of purchasing unbundled textbooks if they so choose to do so, and would also stipulate that publishers fully disclose pertinent information to the buyer: the price of the textbook and supplemental materials; substantial changes over the prior decade, if applicable; and “the existence and price of alternative formats of the textbook or supplemental materials.”
So far the bill has passed, by unanimous decree, with approval of the House Higher Education Committee and so is presumably making its way to the floor.
The ISA believes that after years of hard work and preparation, chances of the bill’s passage in both houses for 2008 looks good, despite the opposition coming from the other side by way of lobbyists representing the publisher’s interests. For Skorczewski, who graduates this year and has held an active role in reestablishing the ISA in its recent history, it would be one hell of a sendoff.
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