The Chronicle of Higher Education: Colloquy

This discussion is closed. This is a transcript.

Books and bucks

Author: Colloquy Moderator
Date: 06-19-03 15:03

Insiders in higher education and publishing say that kickbacks and payoffs to professors and departments have tainted the textbook industry. In one case, a textbook company offered thousands of dollars to professors who agreed to assign one of its books to their students. Several professors have acknowledged that they accepted the deal. Should professors profit from the textbooks they assign to their students? Read more ...

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Junius W. Peake Finance Professor
Date: 06-19-03 19:11

I can't figure out why this question is asked: "Should professors profit from the textbooks they assign to their students?"

Only the students should profit from the textbooks assigned by their professors.

The answer is what Wall Street (and others) call a "no brainer." NO! Are there no ethics anymore?

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Somewhere in SUNY
Date: 06-20-03 10:29

Wow -- I had no idea this situation had gotten this ethically troubled. I've reviewed a couple of books for $200 to $400, but I believe that the reviews were used for legitimate revisions. Each of my reviews required a close reading and several days of work writing the results up. I was already using one of the books, and really desired some of the changes I proposed. (I haven't checked to see if they were implemented or not.) I began teaching other subjects right after that, but I'll use the book again whether or not the changes occured if I teach that subject again. The other book was on a subject I never teach, but again I put in several days of work, and submitted, I think, a review of some value.

My own current book in press benefitted greatly from the legitimate work of several reviewers, all of whom, I believe, were paid in the $200-400 range. I have also used a monograph based on my dissertation for one specialized class, but it's never sold enough copies for me to get a royalty. I believe that the test, here, should be one of whether the work is uniquely appropriate for the class, regardless of whether the professor is the author or not. Because professors often write books to cover lacune in the literature informing their classes, it's likely that this "conflict of interest" will sometimes occur. I don't agree that the revenues need to be donated in this event, but I believe that the professor should only select his/her book if it (in his/her opinion) satisfies a unique need.

The other issues seem to need to pass a test of magnitude. Clearly, the $2,000 or $4,000 payments are bribes, and should not be permitted. Payments of many thousands of dollars for departmental adoption should be disallowed. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong, in my opinion, with getting $2-4 per copy for putting together a course reader, if the professor did real work on it and a textbook publisher publishes it.

To save students money, I'd like to see publishers get rid of the ton of instructors' manuals, test banks, web pages, and so forth that lard up many publications.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: jeff=suny oswego
Date: 06-21-03 15:26

since the free enterprise system is alive n well in this part of the world, any enterprising entity must seek for that surplus value of its labor, investment or other profitable activities. let no man-made rules stop his or her actions; be it legal, moral n anything in between. a teacher may do it, a millionaire may do it, a beggar may do it.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: CJ, graduate student
Date: 06-21-03 22:54

I, too, believe such kickbacks are reprehensible.

I do wonder, though, how do these payments differ from the shoe contracts of college coaches? I mean, of course, other than the fact that some coaches can earn hefty, six-figure annual incomes from such arrangements.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Dr. M. V. Lakshmi Reddy, IGNOU, India
Date: 06-23-03 03:35

Professors benefitting from the books they assign to students! Besides being unethical, unprofessional and corrupt practice its a matter of shame to the teaching or professors community as a whole.

Assigning a book or books to the students, when it is essential or really required for their reading as (honestly) decided by the team/committee of professors of the department concerned, is alright. Otherwise, assigning books to the students by any professor just for the sake of receiving kickbacks and payoffs is an abhorring act.

This practice even in our country (India), a developing one(?), is unheard of. Perhaps, this is because of the facts that: i) the professors mostly suggest the books for reading from out of the ones purchased by and available at the institutional library; and ii) the students of higher education do very little private spending on text books, as they mostly refer the books suggested for reading from those available in the library.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Julie Henderleiter, Chemistry
Date: 06-23-03 08:25

Dr. Peake,
There are some very ethical people out here. As a student at UW-Madison I had the pleasure of encountering a history of education professor who was using his own book in class. He explained why, then asked us to please bring him our bookstore receipts, to verify we had the book. He then paid everyone who purchased a new copy the dollar or so back that he would make in royalties, explaining that we shouldn't have to pay for the class twice. I'd like to think he's more the rule than the exception.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Ralph Protsik, Boston Search Group (and ex-publisher)
Date: 06-23-03 09:20

A good debate needs at least two reasonable counter-arguments, and I'm hard-pressed to think of one to support professors profiting from text adoptions. But I'll try.

If one assumes wide variation in quality among different textbooks, then chosing an inferior text primarily on the basis of kick-backs is cheating students. The fact is, however, that while variation used to be the norm, today the differences in content, organization, readability, format, and ancillary support among the top texts in any one market are minimal. This being the case, the decision of which text to use is splitting hairs. So if students are as well served by one text as another, and if professors can gain financially by using one over the others, then who's to say they shouldn't?

Julie Henderleiter, Chemistry

Author: Junius Peake Finance Professor
Date: 06-23-03 10:51

Julie Henderleiter, Chemistry

There is a world of difference between the professor you wrote about, who is obviously behaving ethically with his students. But would you still think he was ethical if he also received $3,000 to $4,000 under an agreement with the publisher requiring him to use his textbook in class. (Hypothetical only!)

This is an "apples and oranges" comparison. isn't it?

Re: Julie Henderleiter, Chemistry

Author: Julie Henderleiter, Chemistry
Date: 06-23-03 11:50

No,
I would not find someone who was paid to use his/her text in a class ethical. That is reprehensible.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Dr. Mark H. Shapiro, The Irascible Professor
Date: 06-23-03 14:04

The devil is always in the details. The payment of a small honorarium for an honest review of a book is one thing, the payment of large sums of money for a "review" tied to adoption of the book is quite another.

How do you spell P A Y O L A ?

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Patricia Schwarz, Superstringtheory.com
Date: 06-23-03 15:59

jeff, here is how I see the situation in the context of the free market system:

One book review: $200

One professor who assigns a texbook to a class: $2000

The intellectual and educational credibility of the academic establishment in America: PRICELESS

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Patricia Schwarz
Date: 06-23-03 16:11

"He then paid everyone who purchased a new copy the dollar or so back that he would make in royalties, explaining that we shouldn't have to pay for the class twice."

He did the work to write the book, and he did the work to teach the class. He did far more than twice as much work as someone who only taught the class, so why shouldn't he get paid twice?

I think he deserves to be compensated for all of his work.

If he felt that he was assigning the book NOT because it was the best book for his students, then he should feel ashamed, but instead of paying people back one measly little dollar, he should just choose the best book and have them not use his.

If his book is the best book then why should he act like he has an ethical problem? Maybe this is the kind of political self-flagellation that the left has been reduced to. It creeps me out, personally, to go that far.

It's a lot of work to write a book. I just wrote one. It's very hard labor and if he did a good job -- then he deserves every one of those royalty dollars.

It's natural that people who have written a textbook are going to feel it is the ideal book for their course. Often that's WHY people write textbooks -- because they look around and don't see anything else that is suitable.

But to brive professors to adopt a textbook -- that's really bad. That does not compare.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Patricia Schwarz
Date: 06-23-03 16:24

Ralph Protsik, Boston Search Group (and ex-publisher) wrote:
"The fact is, however, that while variation used to be the norm, today the differences in content, organization, readability, format, and ancillary support among the top texts in any one market are minimal. This being the case, the decision of which text to use is splitting hairs. So if students are as well served by one text as another, and if professors can gain financially by using one over the others, then who's to say they shouldn't?"

So imagine you are writing a textbook. I just finished one so this is easy for me to imagine.

As you write this book, are you now motivated to do the best job possible, or are you going to slack off because you know that your sales are really going to be determined by how well your publisher can spread the cash around?

Honest competition is necessary for competition to result in higher quality.

Paying professors to adopt a book interrupts the ability of books to compete on merit. When books can't compete on merit, you will start to see variations in quality.

no meaningful differences?

Author: David Foster
Date: 06-23-03 23:25

"...today the differences in content, organization, readability, format, and ancillary support among the top texts in any one market are minimal."

If this is true, then something is wrong with these markets. I can't think right off of any other markets (other than those for commodity products such as oil and grain) where this degree of product substitutability exists.

Seems to me that there would have to be a stunning lack of creativity among textbook authors (and/or among those who edit, publish, and select these texts) for the above statement to be true.

Re: no meaningful differences?

Author: Emma
Date: 06-24-03 09:57

Personally, I don't think kickbacks for textbook adoptions are ethical. However, I noticed in the article that the people who took the $4000 had some type of financial burden (regardless of the fact that it may have been of their own making). Perhaps faculty wouldn't be so tempted to take these type of kickbacks if they were paid a competitive salary. Please note that the examples were professors from the humanities, who (particulary at small liberal arts schools) often make less than a public school teacher.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: anonymous
Date: 06-24-03 09:59

Ok. What's the difference between a faculty member getting money for using a textbook and a college administrator who uses his position to get on the boards of local/national corporations?

My university pays thousands of dollars a year so my president can have all sorts of perks including a mansion off campus, a membership at a fancy country club, etc. We have administrators all the time using their positions to leverage themselves financially. I've seen administrators sign off on $10 million no bid telecom contracts, the next week quit their jobs, and then take fancy adminsitrative jobs with the same corporations.

So why shouldn't a faculty member get some money for simply assigning a book? For the most part we're woefully underpaid. The only reason that I, as a faculty member, don't simply shoot myself in the head for the insurance is that my school is too cheap to pay for a suicide rider on our policies. Given that why shouldn't I pick up a few extra bucks here and there? Everybody else is getting their piece of the action -- why shouldn't I?

To: Emma

Author: Junius Peake Professor of Finance
Date: 06-24-03 12:12

You have written:

"Perhaps faculty wouldn't be so tempted to take these type of kickbacks if they were paid a competitive salary."

Are you suggesting situational ethics? And shouldn't improper temptation be overcome, regardless of the income?

To my knowledge, no professor--in the humanities or elsewhere--are forced into those jobs. If their salaries are non-competitive, they are free to look elsewhere, aren't they?

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Dr. Mark H. Shapiro, The Irascible Professor
Date: 06-24-03 12:35

The point that Ms. Schwarz misses is that there is an inherent conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest when a professor requires her class to use the book that she has written, even if she believes it is the best book available.

The professor who returns the royalty money is doing the right thing. If her book really is that good, she will earn substantial royalties from students elsewhere.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Nick Carbone, Bedford/St. Martin's
Date: 06-24-03 12:50

Ralph Protsik, Boston Search Group (and ex-publisher) wrote:
"The fact is, however, that while variation used to be the norm, today the differences in content, organization, readability, format, and ancillary support among the top texts in any one market are minimal."

I don't believe this is a fact at all. Textbooks will largely cover the same content to be sure -- they are geared to courses and what courses generally try to cover -- but there are very real differences in the quality of coverage, readability, format, and so on.

Some textbook authors write better than others. Some explain things more clearly than others. Some books get better art than others. Some books do a better job of cross-referencing.

Now, not every program/instructor, when considering books will see this difference, and thus the decision shifts to things like price, support, size of the ancillary package, and other factors that have less to do w/ the book's quality.

But for a lot of instructors, quality still does matter, and they review books carefully, not only in terms of the book's coverage, but in thinking through how well the book will speak to students, suggest useful assignments or questions for study, and how well the book will support the course goals.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Dr. David Arnold, VPAA , St. Catharine College
Date: 06-24-03 13:32

Unfortunately, the tendency to sameness, often synonymous with blandness, is real; particularly in books designed to seek relatively large scale undergraduate adoptions. This trend was evident even in 1989/90 when I was active in the field ("The Stone the Builders Rejected: Faculty Attitudes Toward the Authorship of Textbooks"). Several forces were and still seem to be at work. One is the tendency by publishers to eliminate textbook authorship in favor of textbook assembly by an editor or editorial group whose interest is clearly the market rather than the discipline. This is aggrevated, aided, and abetted by the ambivalent attitude among the faculty to authoring textbooks anyway. Second is the miserable financial incentive to write really distinctive textbooks, particularly given the intense pressure from publishers to force rapid edition changes. If you don't manage to strike gold, forget about authoring textbooks as a way to make money. Research grants are a lot more lucrative. Most authors I interviewed estimated their earnings in both money and reputation at from neglible to negative compared to other scholarly activities. Finally, the incessant pandering to multi-media, high floss, sound/visual bite formats and all the other stuff that seems to cater to the lowest possible attention span adds little to real teaching but drastically increases the cost of launching a textbook; costs which mitigate against risk taking and innovation and in favor of bland, overpriced textbooks of little lasting worth. I can find very little in a current management textbook that is better done or said than in my 15 year old Kontz and ODonnell; a book not graced by a single oh so topical photo or cute little case vignette and which, as an aside, was produced in a reasonable size and weight rather than the current coffee table format approach. At St.C we are beginning to rething the entire thing and concentrate on books from non-textbook sources that will have lasting value to a student's entire field of study or personall library beyond a single semester course.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Karl Bridges
Date: 06-24-03 14:05

Let's see "The professor who returns the royalty money is doing the right thing. If her book really is that good, she will earn substantial royalties from students elsewhere."

Let me see if I understand this:

It's wrong to take money from assigning your own book, but OK to collect royalties from books sold elsewhere. So if the professor at University X gets $5000 to assign your book it's OK for you to collect the royalties from the 300 copies sold at University X. After all you're not actually taking the bribe. You're safely in your ivory tower at University Y full of virtue.

Would not a truly ethical person refuse to take money that was generated by tainted means, regardless of whether the offense happened locally or somewhere else?

Let's look at another situation. You have the opportunity to purchase a great piece of real estate at a bargain price. The reason it's at a bargain price is that the owner (and his heirs) have been shipped off to a concentration camp and liquidated. By your logic there's nothing immoral here -- after all, you didn't actually kill anyone. You just benefitted from the situation. "Oh sure. That was a horrible thing, I'm really sorry my neighbor was killed, but there's no reason that I shouldn't get ahead because of it."

are textbook authors valued?

Author: David Foster
Date: 06-24-03 15:24

"Most authors I interviewed estimated their earnings in both money and reputation at from neglible to negative compared to other scholarly activities."

So, writing a textbook which may influence thousands of students is evidently not valued very highly in the academic community.

We already knew, of course, that in many universities, *teaching* is not very highly valued compared with "research," even when that research is largely meaningless.

The U.S. spends something like $200 billion per year on higher education. Those who supply that money, in their roles as taxpayers and as parents, probably do so under the belief that teaching is a much more important part of academic culture than it in fact is.

Isn't this a perpetration of fraud by the academic community--in a moral if not in a legal sense? If so, it would seem to be even worse than the action of a professor in accepting a de facto bribe of $4000 to recommend a particular textbook.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: anonymous
Date: 06-24-03 16:45

Many of you misunderstood the idea of the professor giving the dollar back. It was not that he shouldn't be payed twice, it was that the students shouldn't have to pay twice. They pay the tuition, pay for the book, and pay a dollar extra for his royalties which was not his intention. If other professors use his book, they are "profitting" (not monetarily) from his work and so he should be paid royalties accordingly.

Re: To: Emma

Author: Emma
Date: 06-24-03 16:52

"To my knowledge, no professo -- in the humanities or elsewhere -- are forced into those jobs. If their salaries are non-competitive, they are free to look elsewhere, aren't they?"

I agree that no one forces anyone to do anything. However, I know many faculty who can barely scrap a living together. They then get into financial trouble and make questionable decisions. You also make the assumption that all professors can find jobs with a competitive salary. Particulary in today's economy it's not easy to find a position where you make enough to dream of paying off your student loans in your lifetime.

"Are you suggesting situational ethics? And shouldn't improper temptation be overcome, regardless of the income?"

-- In an ideal world, I'd agree with you. But it's much more difficult to have absolute ideals/ethics, when you don't have to worry about how you are going to pay your next student loan payment.

Re: are textbook authors valued?

Author: John Garner
Date: 06-25-03 03:46

I understand the "kickbacks" are to professors that adopt certain books for large classes or perhaps whole departments for all sections of a class.

Questions...

What do the book Authors have to do with this?

Is it not the book publishers who are at fault here?

Is there really a "conflict of interest" for requiring ONLY the classes that you teach to use the book that YOU wrote? I think not.

Nobody is making obscene profits from requiring the classes that they teach to use the book that they wrote.

What sense does it make to use somebody else's book to teach your class? ...NONE.

There are certainly parallels with past (and present?) practices of the RIAA and the recording industry and historical "Payola" types of schemes. Publisher kickbacks are similarlly "playing" to a captive audience, however.

Nevertheless, Department chairs who take "payoffs" or "bribes" for book adoptions are unscrupulous characters. But they are Similar to many others in higher education today.

Imagine the publisher paying the Author and then paying the Author again because (s)he is a Department Chair who is requiring a book for all sections of a class being taught at the school. That is "double dipping". I cannot see a publisher doing this.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Jay Steichmann, GA/Eastern Michigan
Date: 06-25-03 10:46

"Must our economic lives be dominated by greed and competition? Free market economists have long answered 'yes'. 'The ABCs of Political Economy' shows that what they 'know' is not so. Robin Hahnel writes with clarity, originality, verve and a relentless moral passion." -- Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts

Evidently, Mr. Hahnel does not practice what he preaches. He says that he does not support the practice of paying for book adoption, but any first-year student of 'the dismal science' would be able to inform Hahnel that participating in the exchange does directly support the continuation of such a policy. Or, does he maintain the stance that if he were to refuse it, someone else would take advantage? My mother disabused me of that notion long ago with visions of my having to jump off a bridge because all my friends were doing so.

I do not have a problem with professors using their own book in their own course. After all, being able to refer back to a mentor's words in print has a demonstrable value, if, of course, the book and instructor are commendable.

I do have a problem with accepting monies for adoption. I am glad that I do not have Mr. Hahnel for a course in business ethics.

As a side note, I managed national accounts for a Fortune 100 automotive supplier for 15 years. That North West's practices suborn bribery was immediately apparent to me. Too bad that Hahnel and others are reinforcing for their students that ethics are out the window when it's all about the Benjamins.

Re: no meaningful differences?

Author: Jay Steichmann, GA/Eastern Michigan
Date: 06-25-03 11:07

David Foster wrote:
"If this is true, then something is wrong with these markets. I can't think right off of any other markets (other than those for commodity products such as oil and grain) where this degree of product substitutability exists."

Indeed! The situation Foster originally quoted does equate textbooks with commodities -- fungible goods. If there is no substantive difference between one textbook and another, then we can assume that it also makes no difference where we acquire our education, since if the authors (in this model) cannot differentiate their product then their instruction is most likely equivalent.

Of course this is not the actual situation, at least as far as I have experienced it. However, the academics who compromise their principles may immediately stop holding themselves as superior to executives in business and industry.

As a student, I understand the effect of expensive, sparsely adopted textbooks on a strained budget. As a teacher, I struggle with finding textbooks appropriate to my discipline that will (or may) be used long after my course is over. I consider it completely inappropriate for me to gain monetarily from adoption of a text. My gain should come from students who learn from me, and be realized in merit increases or, one day, tenured appointment.

Reply to Emma

Author: Junius Peake Finance Professor
Date: 06-25-03 11:22

Emma:

You write:

"However, I know many faculty who can barely scrap[e] a living together. They then get into financial trouble and make questionable decisions."

Many people not in academia barely scrape by financially. Are you suggesting that they could also "make questionable decisions" (such as shoplfting, etc.) and be ignored for doing so?

Do you believe academics are a special class?

You also write:

"But it's much more difficult to have absolute ideals/ethics, when you don't have to worry about how you are going to pay your next student loan payment."

You are right. But you voluntarily took out the student loan, which you contracted to pay back from your earnings. You didn't have to take out a student loan, but you did.

What are you telling your students about their ethical obligations when you seem to defend unethical behavior in your profession?

I'm sorry, Emma, but this is not an issue that is a shade of gray. Taking what is obviously a bribe to require a particular textbook to be used in your own class is wrong, regardless of your own financial situation.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: David Steinberg, Assoc. Dean, Southern Il U. Edw'vlle
Date: 06-25-03 11:46

We at (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville--SIUE) have had a policy in place for over 30 years which states in part, "Instructors may require for their courses the rental or purchase of materials from which they make a profit provided that...the purchase or rental materials has been approved by the chairperson or a departmenal committee charged with this responsibility. To avoid any suspicion that the materials are being required simply to make a profit for the instructor, it is recommended that any instructor requiring such rental or purchase make an annual contribution to the SIUE Foundation or other charitable organization at least equal to royalties received from sales at SIUE...."

Re: no meaningful differences?

Author: jay s
Date: 06-25-03 12:30

Emma wrote:
"I noticed in the article that the people who took the $4000 had some type of financial burden"

The fact that some justified their behavior because they had bills to pay was a slap in the face to students who drive ten year old beaters and live in cramped apartments, balancing work and school hoping to not be permanently buried under the weight of student loans. The capricious attitude of these petty demigods is enough to cause one to consider enrolling in a for-profit institution, where the cut-throat ethics are acknowledged and perhaps even celebrated.

Those who accept money or incidental exchange for a review are not troubling. Those who accept bribes to adopt books should have trouble reconciling their personal ethics with their thirty pieces of silver.

For Dean Steinberg

Author: Karl Bridges
Date: 06-25-03 13:46

OK. Two questions:

1) How do you enforce this? What about the person who doesn't want to give a donation and wants to keep the money?

2) Don't you have some serious church/state issues here? What if I want to give my royalties to a religious organization?

I can sort of see why you would want to have this kind of policy in place even though, as a capitalist, I somewhat disagree with it. It does seem somewhat coercive in how it's worded. In essence a governmental agency is, under certain conditions, imposing a 100 percent tax on royalties. Basically this amounts to an income tax -- for practical purposes. I'm not sure that a university has the legal right to do this. It's also, arguably, an interference in interstate trade in that the policy would tend to restrict trade e.g. the sale of a particular book across state lines.

One would think that, rather than try to administer such a policy, one would simply require that the payment be made e.g. require all professors to report all royalty payments, compare that list to books used, and send offenders a bill.

Simply having a policy that uses the word "recommend" seems open to interpretation.

Put this in another light -- if you're going to do this to people who assign books in classes shouldn't you also extract a royalty payment from people if their book is bought for the university library?

What happens, for example, if someone refuses to pay the university the royalty "donation" and then is turned down for tenure or gets another penalty? Can't they make an argument that, in effect, they lost their job, or were punished, at least in part, because they refused to pay a kickback to the university?

publishers are to blame too

Author: Reid Hester / Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
Date: 06-25-03 17:41

I see a lot of self-blame among professors going on here, so I'd like to point the finger back at the publishers for a while. I blame most of the nasty practices described in The Chronicle story -- from North West's $4,000 "review" payments to Pearson's $30,000 payments for "in-kind services" -- on consolidation in the college textbook publishing industry.

My experience in this industry has been entirely with small publishers because I have found that the small houses are the most likely to publish new and innovative titles that have the most impact on the classroom experience for both the professor and the student. The largest companies -- such as Pearson, which is mentioned several times in the Chronicle story -- have forgotten how to grow organically. The acquisitions editors at the conglomerates are overburdened with revisions and hardly have time to look for, let alone develop and publish, new and innovative books. The conglomerates achieve most of their growth by raising prices and buying out other companies (then they buy out professors to secure adoptions of all of these books that have ended up on their lists through consolidation).

Not only is signing and developing new books difficult for the conglomerates, the old-fashioned job of selling has also become more difficult. Unfortunately, massive consolidation in the college textbook industry has resulted in a massive decrease in the number of sales reps who are available to talk with professors about the books that their companies publish. It's the book rep's job to regularly check in with the profs in his or her territory to make textbook recommendations. By and large most professors probably don't see textbooks for large introductory courses as commodity products, but you can bet that the 23 year old sales rep who has ten (or more) different books on his or her list to sell for the same course doesn't completely understand the differences among them and how those differences might apply to different professors with varying backgrounds and teaching styles. So it's my belief that it's the textbook publishers themselves who have helped to create the commodity mentality. They can't distinguish among the books on their own lists, so they offer professors goodies and/or money to adopt whichever book is out in a new edition in a given year. After all, if the prof adopts a book that hasn't been revised in a couple of years, then the bookstore's going to order 90% used books, and the publisher will hardly see a dime from the order.

North West's business practices are an indirect result of consolidation. With ever larger lists and infrastructures to support the conglomerates won't publish any book that doesn't meet strict profitability targets, so the niche books and the books in later editions with dwindling sales are simply dropped. In comes North West, essentially a middleman with no regard for the old-fashioned method of growing a small company organically over time. Their business consists solely of reviving old editions of books with existing (though dwindling) marketshare. Such books may no longer be profitable for Prentice Hall, but North West is probably two guys in an office (or a basement) somewhere with very little overhead. North West can get away with pricing their books comparably to the books published by the largest conglomerates because there's still very little competition at the level of price in textbook publishing (cutthroat price competition is the truest indicator of a commodity marketplace). Of course they have no sales force to get professors to look at their books, so they resort to large cash payments in return for "reviews".

Believe it or not, I'm optimistic about this industry. There are lots of small to mid-sized publishers who are seeing opportunities for innovation that are overlooked by the conglomerates. I'm confident that small publishers will continue to make a place for themselves. However, the burden is largely on already over-burdened professors to seek out textbooks published by the smaller companies without sales reps. Professors must also seek out the smaller publishers when submitting prospectuses for new, innovative textbooks. In order to learn about the textbooks that are published by small publishers profs must take the time to do research online, sift through direct mail solicitations, read promotional e-mails, and visit our booths in the exhibit halls at conferences. If we can publish just the right book for your course AND figure out how to get you to look at it carefully, your experience teaching with that book will be its own payola.

Response for Karl Bridges

Author: David Steinberg
Date: 06-26-03 12:44

The key provision of the policy is that individual faculty cannot adopt their own text. The process requires their dept. chair and/or a dept. committee to be involved in the process. This is enforceable, because an adoption wil not occur without appropriate signatures on the adoption request form.

The part about donating one's royalties is stated as a recommendation and is treated as such. There is no enforcement. One is free to donate or not, and is also free to donate to whatever charity one chooses. I do not see any church/state issue here: The donation (if any) comes from the individal's funds, not the university's.

Acquisitions by the library are decisions made by library staff, perhaps with recommendations of appropriate discipline-based committees, but not by individuals, so there's no conflict of interest issue in this regard.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Dr. Mark H. Shapiro, The Irascible Professor
Date: 06-26-03 13:43

Karl,

Please don't put words in my mouth. It's not sanitary!

I already have indicated my opposition to the practice of paying bribes in the form of exorbitant "review fees" in order to secure adoption of a text.

My comment was intended to show that profiting from requiring students in your class to buy your book is also a questionable practice.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Karl Bridges
Date: 06-26-03 16:09

I give up. I've tried to make rational arguments why these kinds of policies are a problem. In return I get one person who thinks it's not a problem and another who seems to think that I'm personally attacking him.

What this really goes to show, in the end is this. First, people in higher education have really low ethics. Second, that the level of intellectual discourse in this country is extremely low.

It's so sad that we're now reaping the fruits of over 30 years of neglect of our higher education system -- where the entire system is dominated by people more interested in promoting political correctness than academic standards. It's really unfortunate, but provides a good explanation of why the quality of higher education in other countries is so much higher than that in the United States.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Karl Bridges
Date: 06-26-03 16:12

It's been brought to my attention that someone has been posting to this discussion using my name. I have not been posting and would appreciate whoever has been using my identity to stop. I have no opinions on these matters. Thanks.

Re: publishers are to blame too

Author: Paul Whitney,Director,URI Bookstore
Date: 06-27-03 08:12

Reid,
I agree that the consolidation of the college textbook publishers has been bad for the industry and the consumer.

In the "old days", 30-years ago, there were a number of excellent [less expensive] textbooks available from many smaller publishers. I am hoping the pendulum swings back and and we will see a resurgence of quality textbooks,written by quality professors who are experts in their fields.

I do not agree that college bookstores go out and order 90% used books on textbook editions that are not revised within two years.I am not saying that this cannot happen but it is not the norm. Obviously, as the availability of a particular book increases on a specific campus then the market for used textbooks also increases. More students give or sell books among themselves and the bookstore is able to purchase more used texts from the students [not used book companies] at 50% of the new retail price which saves the students a significant sum. About 40%-50% of the used textbooks we acquire [bookstores] come through the student buyback marketplace on our campus. Used textbook sales in most bookstores are 19-30% of total textbook revenues.

As far as the subject of professors being paid to adopt specific textbooks; I think Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale said it best in their book, The Power of Ethical Management, published by William Morrow and Company,Inc. in 1988.

" There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience."

Re: Reply to Emma

Author: Emma, University of Kansas
Date: 06-27-03 09:23

I agree it is a bribe, and personally I believe all kickbacks are wrong. However, that doesn't mean I don't understand why someone might cross the line. No, it doesn't make it right, but at the same time I don't think we should ignore what might motivate these people to cross the line.

Unethical behavior happens all the time in academia. In past I've worked in a medical school and personally, I watched what I considered unethcial behavior occur all the time, whether that is the free lunch you get from the drug rep., or the grant that corporation gives an institution. However, as with so many things money is often a motivating factor. You are right it doesn't make it right, but at least I understand why it's happening.

Re: For Dean Steinberg

Author: John Garner
Date: 06-27-03 11:04

Dean Steinberg,

Karl is right, your policy is not enforceable.

If a Professor were to tell his students to buy the books online at Amazon.com or some other Internet supplier they are much cheaper than they would be in the school bookstore and there is no way to track the transactions.

In addition, the institution could have no record of such a transaction. It would be easy to do because most students have at least one credit card (provided that it is not "maxed out") and getting books dropped shipped UPS sure beats standing in line and dealing with clerks that play to a closed house and have little of no courtesy to students.

If you want a policy such as this you would need to deal directly with the publisher. Even then you are at their mercy because there is no way to enforce that they will pay all that is owed.

Dean Steinberg, there is no honor among thieves.

Re: For Dean Steinberg

Author: Reid Hester / Rowman & Littlefield Publishing
Date: 06-27-03 12:59

Why do so many posters in the colloquy continue to disregard the key portion of SIU Edwardsville's policy? It's not meant to be enforceable because it's voluntary.

I applaud SIU Edwardsville and every institution that addresses the ethical issues inherent in the textbook adoption system. There's no bullet-proof system for ensuring squeeky clean ethics every time a professor assigns his or her own book to their students, but policies like SIU Edwardsville's are at least an acknowledgment of the potential for unethical behavior rather than head-in-the-sand avoidance or outright obliviousness.

Re: publishers are to blame too

Author: Reid Hester / Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
Date: 06-27-03 13:00

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your thoughtful message. I must admit that I was engaging in hyperbole when I claimed that bookstores would order 90% used books when a professor adopts a book that hasn't been revised in a couple of years.

Of course many veterans of the industry would say that it is the used book issue itself that has led to all of the consolidation. Publishers now see sales fall off precipitously after only about one full year of sales on a new book or a new edition. The large conglomerates have had to churn out more and more books in an effort to keep up with the growth expectations of a publicly traded companies. Buying out other publishers provides a quick boost to the bottom line, but it's no long term solution.

I sometimes wonder if the average professor feels like a deer in headlights given the rapidity with which successful books are revised (two year revision cycles are now the norm for most successful intro books). I think that, here too, there's plenty of blame to place on publishers for allowing used books to take over such a large part of the market. Their only defense has been to raise prices, accelerate revision cycles, and buy out competitors. It's kind of like a Ponzi scheme.

Again, professors can help by refusing to adopt books that they feel are egregiously over-priced and/or revised with only cosmetic changes to the new edition. They should demand more transparency by insisting that publishers tell them the expected retail price of a book rather than the net price (the price the bookstore will pay the publisher to order the book). Bookstores have very little leeway in pricing, especially with new books, though bookstores often take the blame for high-priced textbooks. I can't endorse the strategy of encouraging students to buy used books because in the long run it only makes things worse. Students are not around long enough to see the effects of used books on pricing and revisions, so professors have to be their students' advocates by demanding better behavior from publishers.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Interested Observer
Date: 06-27-03 13:33

After spending nearly 25 years in the business of providing course materials to students, I'm very pleased to see that the practice of financial incentives for adoptions has provoked such hearty discussion. The bottom line is that students are paying for the books and these financial incentives are rolled into the cost of the book. Eliminate the financial incentives and you can decrease the price of the book.

As for the comments about whether it is ethical for a professor to require his or her own book for a course, I am reminded of a presentation by Steve Jobs back when he was with Next. Steve was asked to provide a presentation on where he thought computing was heading. Some attendees thought that his presentation was just a commercial for Next. In my opinion we heard exactly what we should have heard. He believed that computing was heading in the same direction as Next computers. If a professor has written a book that is appropriate for the course that is being taught, then I would expect the professor to require that book. To not would be to say that the book was not what the professor believed to be true about the subject. If a professor was requiring a book that had minimal relevance or was deemed an inferior product, then it should be the responsibility of the institution to provide consequences.

What has to happen to reduce the unethical behavior produced by the financial incentives for textbook adoptions? A change in the business model and delivery method. Microsoft has its Campus License Agreements. Will we see a day when Pearson or Thomson license all of their content to an institution? When that happens, say goodbye to used books. Each student would pay a fee for access to the content during the course. The student may choose to obtain the content in another form, but that would be the students choice, not a requirement.

I'm sure there are holes to my arguments and I welcome further discussion. As I said in the beginning of this post, I'm just happy to see the issue discussed.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Paul Whitney
Date: 06-27-03 14:50

God [Bill Gates] may like the idea of publishers licensing their content to an institution. As for myself,I am fearful of the day when the Internet or sole-source "publishers" becomes society's only intellectual resource.

Re: For Dean Steinberg

Author: anonymous
Date: 06-30-03 13:14

A question: What's the point of a policy if it's not enforceable? It's like passing a law and then telling people "Don't worry. We never plan to enforce it.

The earlier writer really hit the nail on the head. College bookstores made sense a hundred years ago when you had colleges in isolated hick towns with no other sources of materials. (I don't know. Perhaps that's Edwardsville) Nowadays with the Internet and UPS what's the point -- other than having a place to sell college sweatshirts.

More to the point, what would you do with a professor who simply refused to go along? What about some guy with tenure who does use the Internet and amazon.com?

It's silly for colleges to be enforcing these petty little rules. I wonder what happens when the taxpayers in Illinois wake up and figure that they're paying a huge amount of money for administrators who, instead of dealing with education, are spending their time enforcing these dumb policies.

Higher education is the next health care -- just waiting to be reformed.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Ron McCoy, History Professor, Emporia State Uniuversity
Date: 07-02-03 08:36

The article was a real shock. I recall responding to a publisher's invitation to "review" texts and receive payment. When it became clear that payment was contingent on adopting the publisher's text -- to my eyes, a blatant kickback -- I left that particular parade.

How can any professional educator even consider taking money for adopting a text?

"They made me do it by the pure profit angle," one of the members of our profession is quoted as saying in the article.

What an example for our students.

So, $4,000 in hand, professors can resume the old, familiar role so many people accept as "the way it is." This role was summed up marvelously by the "Brenda" character in HBO's "Six Feet Under" in a March 2002 episode: "Academia is one huge circle jerk. All the sequestered people desperately defending the one good idea they have ever had in their lives." "The one good idea"? Like taking kickbacks from publishers?

Re: Books and bucks

Author: a student
Date: 07-03-03 13:56

As a Grad Student I have a hard time making it through the first weeks of school, I end up spending all of my money on books and it leaves little to buy food & gas for my 14 year old 267,000 mile car.

Now for some professor to decide that a couple thousand dollars is worth it to make me have to buy a $100 book rather than a $60 used book (that is the same as the $100 except the pretty new pictures) then that professor has things backwards.

Now I know those Professors need to pay off their student loans (do they not remember how to budget their money like when they were in school?) but really I think the book they buy should fit the course description not their pocket book. If they are doing their job they would be picking the right book for the class, not the right book for the money.

Re: For Dean Steinberg

Author: John Garner
Date: 07-03-03 23:08

Anonymous says...

"Higher education is the next health care -- just waiting to be reformed."

Excuse me?

Did I miss something?

I don't recall any healthcare reforms being enacted.

...Unless you try to call a glorified secretary with an insurance code book and a Merck's manual trying to second-guess the treatment of a practicing Physican reform.

God forbid that they should get their greedy little paws on education.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Donna Werner, Asst Prof - Philosophy
Date: 07-05-03 07:28

My view exactly. I teach ethics and all the "justifications" provided by the faculty in this article sound suspiciously like "rationalizations" - the same sorts of rationalizations my students make when they try to justify downloading music for free or plagiarizing, etc. The fact that you "need" the money (or the song, or the grade) does not somehow make this wrong act "right."

It also seems to me that there is something quite different with writing reviews for textbooks (even if you are being paid simply for looking carefully at a text rather than for your review). If someone wants to pay me for my time to "review" a textbook, fine. I still am free to choose to use the text or not.

The bottom line is this: what counts as a good reason for choosing a text book? In my view, there's only one: in your professional opinion, this is the best text for your students.

Re: For Dean Steinberg

Author: Donna Werner, Asst Prof - Philosophy
Date: 07-05-03 07:49

I did my Masters work at SIU-Edwardsville and my son is currently an undergrad there. it seems that some readers have missed a key point about the system. Students do not BUY books directly. . . the university buys the books and then "rents" the books to the students. Students receive the books (Free of additional charges) to use for the semester (i.e., the cost is included in their tuition) and they must return the texts at the end of the semester. It actually is a great system for the students financially.

How about alternatives?

Author: Ann Moore, Adjunct, Pace University
Date: 07-06-03 00:25

The whole matter of the cost of textbooks is obscene, without the horrifying news that professors are being offered--and accepting--thousands of dollars in bribes to adopt particular texts. Faculty who accept such inducements not only compromise their own integrity but contribute to the outrageous overhead being exacted from students at the point of purchase. There certainly seem to be enough shoddy ethics to go around. The new editions that publishers provide annually to supersede last year's editions are fatter and fatter--too heavy to carry if more than one book is involved, too expensive to pay for, and too full of material for any course possibly to use in a single semester.

There needs to be a faculty uprising against this colossal misuse of resources. Would the emerging publish-to-order textbooks, designed for specific courses, with readings to match the syllabus, be one answer? And yes, why not, as someone suggested, use good solid trade books that fill the bill?

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Anna Bates, Assistant Professor, Aquinas College
Date: 07-06-03 15:37

I am one of the professors mentioned in Bartlett's article. Here is a copy of my letter to the editor, in case it doesn't make it into print:

Dear Editor,

Thomas Bartlett's article claims that the professors who chose to participate in NorthWest Publishing's review of the textbook, Conquering a Continent put "their wallets before their students." A person reading Bartlett's article is led to believe that NorthWest handed thousands of dollars in cash to professors to adopt a book they knew nothing about, knowing that any comments they made about the book would be ignored by the publisher.

As one of the professors who participated in NorthWest's textbook review and who talked with Bartlett when he telephoned my office to discuss my contract with NorthWest, I retaliate. I entered a contract with NorthWest to do at least a thousand dollar's worth of work in exchange for an honorarium that will be paid at the end of October. The goal of the work was to provide student generated input to the publisher for revisions to the book. Yes, this is a marketing technique on NorthWest's part. But is it sleazy? I don't think so.

First of all, the professors who took part in this review did a lot of work. I provided NorthWest with a detailed analysis of the book that took approximately twenty hours to complete. Additionally, I distributed and collected student evaluations. This, too, took time and effort.

Besides the semester-end evaluation form that the publisher provided, I led several class discussions about the book, and asked students for their input along the way. Students usually compared the contents of the textbook to articles and other readings assigned for the class - including, incidentally, articles by Winthrop Jordon and Leon Litwack. I included the results of the class discussions in my comments to the publisher. All of this was a huge amount of work for the sum of $1,000. I do not feel guilty about accepting the money (which I have not yet received - we are supposed to be paid October 30, 2003) because I worked hard to earn it.

I can not speak for everyone who participated in the review, but I told my students about the process. I said at the beginning of the semester that the textbook was under review, that revisions were planned, and that the publisher wanted students' input about the book's content. The students seemed excited that a publisher wanted to hear what they had to say about the book they purchased, and all were willing to participate in the evaluation.

Neither I nor any of the other professors who participated in this review assigned the book without knowing its content. NorthWest sent early copies of the text for our review PRIOR to our agreement to adopt the textbook. The book, written by two top scholars in U.S. History, appeared solid. Otherwise, I would not have adopted it for any sum of money.

Was what NorthWest did unethical? That is not for me to answer. For my part, I provided consumer feedback about a product to the company that produced it. Did I know it was a marketing ploy? Of course I did. Consumer satisfaction surveys are, by definition, marketing tools. Did I agree to accept money? Of course I did. I saw this as an employment opportunity. I entered a contract with NorthWest, and I upheld my part of the bargain by doing the work. Nothing unethical there.

I work in a profession that is increasingly driven by customer satisfaction. At my school, teaching evaluations are the primary criteria for assessing professors' performances. If students do not like the way professors teach, or if they do not learn enough material in their classes, it shows in their evaluations. If students evaluate their professors, why shouldn't they also evaluate the books they buy and read? I routinely ask my students to evaluate books, but the evaluations usually go no farther than my desk. I read them, and consider the students' opinions and comments when deciding which books to adopt in the future. NorthWest's offer made it possible for student comments to go directly to the publisher.

I have reviewed several textbooks during the past four years. Usually, these are pre-publication manuscripts that publishers send to me in exchange for detailed comments and suggestions for revision. Perhaps, as Bartlett claims, some of these reviews are discarded, or "circular filed." Not all of them are, though. I have spoken directly with the authors of some of these books. They thanked me for my input about their manuscripts. In one case, my name was cited as a contributing editor for the book I reviewed.

Publishers routinely ask professors for input and opinions about their books. And the publishers get exactly that - professors' opinions. How can publishers get input from their real customers - the students - without selling them the books first? Surely Bartlett does not think a moderately-sized publisher like NorthWest can afford to give away thousands of books to students. And if the professors who agree to assign the books do so knowing that the students will learn what they need from them, who has been harmed? Certainly not the students.

In the end, I suppose I agree with Bartlett's bottom line, that publishers should not pay people to adopt their books. I think he should target the publishers, though, and not the professors who agree to review the texts. Bartlett also needs to prove that NorthWest does not intend to use the student and professor evaluations mentioned in his article for any good purpose.

After my conversation with Bartlett, I called NorthWest Publishing and spoke with Michelle C. Roberts, the representative with whom I made the agreement to review Conquering a Continent. Of course, Roberts assured me that the deal was legitimate, and that my comments would be incorporated into the new edition of the book. Unless Bartlett can offer firm evidence to the contrary, I must assume that Roberts is telling the truth. And if she is, I applaud her and the efforts of NorthWest Publishing to invite scrutiny from their toughest customers - the students who consume their products.

Sincerely,

Anna Bates
Assistant Professor of History
Aquinas College
Grand Rapids, Michigan
(616) 459-8281 ext. 4483
batesann@aquinas.edu

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Anna Bates, Assistant Professor, Aquinas College
Date: 07-06-03 16:25

Bartlett's article was not fair to the professors who agreed to adopt the book in question. I am one of the profs who adopted it. It DID fit the description of the course I taught. And there was no guarantee that the publisher would pay me one penny for adopting the book. I signed a contract agreeing to write a detailed evaluation of the book, due at NorthWest by June 30. The evaluation took twenty hours to write. I also had to distribute and collect student response surveys. That took time and effort also. And the publisher did not hand me any cash. I will be paid a $1,000. honorarium on October 30. I agreed to do it becauase it was a good book by two of the top scholars in my field. As for used books, my students almost always need to buy new books instead of used ones because I always use current, state of the art texts in my classes. In my field (history), books more than two years old are obsolete. My choice this time was between the NorthWest book and another new book from another company that was even more expensive. So lighten up. I felt that I was providing students a way to respond directly to the publisher responsible for one of the books they had to buy. My students seemed happy to do that.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Anna Bates, Assistant Professor, Aquinas College
Date: 07-06-03 19:06

The professors who entered the agreement with NorthWest Publishing to review the textbook, Conquering a Continent, did NOT receive thousands of dollars in "incentives" to adopt the book. I am one of the reviewers. I entered a contract with NorthWest that requires me to provide NorthWest with detailed comments on the book along with student evaluations. To get the student evaluations, of course I had to adopt the book. But I was aware of the book's contents, and knew both of its authors (Winthrop Jordan and Leon Litwack) by reputation. NorthWest sent advance copies of the book to all the reviewers before we adopted it. The book was absolutely pertinent to my U.S. History survey course, and contains first-rate scholarship. If this were not true, I would not have adopted it for any sum of money. I spent approximately twenty hours writing a detailed critique of the book. I also distributed and collected student surveys, and conducted several discussions with my class about the contents of the book. I did approximately thirty five hours work for NorthWest. If I receive the $1,000. stipend from NorthWest, it will represent about 28.57 per hour for my work. I hardly call that a pay-off to adopt the text. When I spoke with Bartlett about my work with NorthWest, I told him that I knew this was a marketing scheme. Customer satisfaction surveys are, by definition, marketing tools. I see nothing wrong with them. Students evaluate the professors who teach the courses that they pay for -- why shouldn't they evaluate the books that they buy and read? Bartlett also asked me if I planned to accept the money from NorthWest. I do. I worked hard for it. Unless Bartlett can provide convincing evidence tht NorthWest wants my work and the words of my students for any purpose other than to use when updating the book, I suggest that he back off. I think NorthWest's idea of using student input to revise a book is innovative.

Re: Dr. Bates

Author: David Arnold VPAA St. Catharine
Date: 07-08-03 11:10

Hear hear!

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Ron McCoy, History Professor, Emporia State University
Date: 07-09-03 13:37

So one of the arguments in favor of professors accepting "honoraria" from a publisher to adopt a text seems to run like this: I spent lots of time reviewing the text and that only works out to umpety-dumpety dollars per hour, so what's the harm? Silly me. And here I thought publishers sent us examination copies so we could review them for possible textbook adoption (without compensation). It's part of our job, keeping up with what's out there so our students can benefit. I doubt the publishing industry is going to create a pay-off cartel for professors. Accepting the "honoraria," contingent on a text's adoption, still looks like a kickback.

Re: Ron McCoy

Author: Anna Bates,Aquinas College
Date: 07-09-03 17:01

Yes, publishers send us books all the time to review. This review was for a revision, though. Those of us who entered the contract with NorthWest actually sent suggested revisions to the text, thinking that the authors would read them (mayvbe that was rather silly of us) and incorporate the revisions into a planned new edition of the text. That's a lot more work than reading a book to decide whether to adopt it. I can't speak for the other professors who signed the contract with Northwest, but I was excited about this book, and would have gladly adopted it without the privilege to review it for revision. I remember the book from grad school, and I was disappointed to hear that the book was out o print a few years ago when I wanted to assign it for a class. Anyway, I'm sorry you can't see it from my perspective. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: G Depken, Private Practice
Date: 07-09-03 23:30

Thanks for the opportunity to growl about this topic. I never participated in "selecting on the basis of money to me" when I taught high school, my husband never did it when he taught at the university level and my son has not,does not and will not undertake such actions at his university. So we have been part of this system.

But, let's keep this simple.

In the middle of the semester, my daughter was required to purchase an art history book for $125 and then was required to read only one chapter. Why didn't her professor just use the reserve system at her university?

Her U.S. History text had mistakes in it just like the textbooks for high school students that we read about in the news. If the book had not been reviewed for correct content(and it apparently was not reviewed by someone who knew his history or the mistakes were ignored,or the book was not reviewed at all), why should it be supported by the professor and, indirectly, by the students. It should be trashed. ( I'm not talking about interpretation. I'm just talking about dates and names.)

I went back to school the past two years and got my master's in historic preservation. I never bought a book I didn't use completely.

Seems it's the job of the publishers and their sales force to produce and sell a quality product. If they can't do it on that basis, let them go the way of all capitalist ventures which are beaten out by better products.

And no one "made" those professors do any of this. And it can't be sugar-coated or rationalized by "I have bills to pay". So do we students and parents.

They need to grow up or move on to some other work that doesn't require ethics, if they can find such an animal.

There. I feel better. Thanks for the opportunity.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: anonymous
Date: 07-10-03 11:25

One has to ask: Why are colleges even using textbooks? Why aren't students, in history for example, being taught using actual scholarly works and/or source materials. Most U.S. history textbooks I've seen, without exception, have been watered down pablum for students with minimal reading skills. Many European universities don't use textbooks.

The real problem here isn't the textbook. It's lazy professors and administrators who are afraid to anger their college admissions departments by making their students do actual work.

G. Depken

Author: Anna Bates,Aquinas College
Date: 07-10-03 12:47

Actually, I agree with everything you are saying. And incidentally, I have never assigned my own book, or only one chapter of any book, to any class. For the book I reviewed, there weren't any gross misspellings or editorial errors in it because it was a time-tested textbook that was widely used several years ago. Those of us who participated in the review were making suggestions about how to update the book. And the students who participated knew this. My students had the benefit of a current reader that I always assign to accompany whatever textbook I use, so they had plenty of up-to date scholarship. I know you think I don't care about my students, but I do. I care about them so much I actually thought I was doing them a favor by assigning the book, which was was cheaper than the glitzy texts with color pictures and CDs that are the current craze in my filed. If I hadn't felt comfortable with the book, I would never have agreed to help with the update. For the rationalizations that you mention, understand that when we entered the deal with NorthWest, we thought it was legitimate contract work. I am always looking for things like that. But I'm careful about what I decide to do and not do. If this was a crooked deal, it was very cleverly disguised. We were paid nothing up front. Payment was supposed to be based on the quality of work we provided NorthWest, and that would not be until October 30. I can't speak for everyone, but the idea of working with the two famous authors who originally published the book was as enticing as the money. The revelation that the authors might not have known about the deal certainly makes me think, though, that this might not be what we thought it was -- namely honest work. Thanks for your input. And again, I agree with you.

anonymous, boycott textbooks

Author: Anna Bates,Aquinas College
Date: 07-10-03 12:51

Maybe we should start a boycott of textbooks. I know this experience has made me seriously skeptical of everything textbook publishers say and offer. I have known professors who refused to use them, and I'm starting to understand why. Today I did my usual summer task of sorting through the stack of examination copies I received during the past year. I noticed that a student evaluation form was included at the end of one book. When I saw it, I felt my hackles go up. We live and learn.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: jjs, student/EMU
Date: 07-23-03 10:19

Ms. Bates offers that she did hard work in exchange for her $1,000. I do not argue that what she did crossed any major ethical prosciption. But what of the students who bought the book and then performed evaluative tasks so that Bates could collect? Were they comped on the purchase of the book? Bates seems both whiny and defensive.

As a student, I would resent being assigned a textbook selected at least in part to line the professors pocket based on MY work. Yes, individually the students' contribution was minor but in the aggregate it was indispensible.

I hope Anna Bates at least threw a party for her students with her gain on their sweat equity.

Re: Books and bucks

Author: Student at AU
Date: 07-24-03 11:47

I think that the whole textbook industry has gotten way out of proportion. After working at a college bookstore, I learned the ins and outs of the lives of books. It seems that as soon as a new edition comes out, the next one is quickly behind it. Often times, the only difference in editions is the cover of the book. For the most part the content stays the same. Buying used textbooks or old editions is definitely the way to go and professors should be mindful of that. If anything they should make their textbook recommended reading, not required.

Re: Students' Sweat Equity

Author: Ron McCoy, Professor, Emporia State University
Date: 07-25-03 10:15

That's an excellent point, about the students' "sweat equity." They filled out evaluations, so why didn't they get paid? We're back to some of the worst of academe and academics: a combination of hubris and noblesse oblige. C'mon, folks, getting paid to "review," "evaluate," whatever a book -- with payment contingent on adopting it for classroom use (and student pay-outs) -- is no different from payola.

I worked for Pearson and closed the PSU econ "deal".

Author: Chris Campbell/ex Pearson DM
Date: 08-18-03 21:29

Any questions?

I have a great story to tell.