Students Fight Back Against High Textbook Prices

On April 29, from 12:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. a group of students distributed a petition while taking surveys and handing out information sheets in the main lobby of the Vertical Campus. The goal that day was to make Baruch students aware of expensive textbook prices.

The group of students, who do not have a set organization name as of yet consist of five members: Yaejin Kim, an upper junior and corporate communications major; Imran Dada, a senior and finance major; Winnie Yee, an upper junior and corporate communications major; Igor Vaysberg, a junior with an undecided major; and Jenny Martinez, a junior majoring in corporate communications.

According to Martinez, the group banded together in a communications class for a class project. When selecting a possible topic for the project, Martinez came up with the idea that textbooks purchased in the Baruch bookstore are expensive, with the textbooks often not being used to its full extent.

"[The] majority of the time all five of us agreed that you don't use all of the material in the textbook," said Martinez. "If I'm going to pay $100 for a textbook I expect the professor to use it."

Martinez said that the group was irritated not only by professors who use the textbooks minimally, but by the Baruch bookstore as well.

"We were pissed off that the professor would not use the book," said Martinez. "We were also pissed off that if we get something back [money] from the bookstore, it would be a small percentage [of the original price of the text book] which we all thought was unfair."

To take action against all of this, the students' next move was to create a textbook campaign. Their first step was to distribute fliers and surveys, while asking students to sign a petition.

"The goal was to interview 200 people each, but we eventually thought that the survey was not as important as the petition," said Martinez. She added that the petition intended to be sent to the individual or group that oversees purchasing from textbook manufacturers for Baruch's bookstore.

The group has also established a website at http://bookripoff.tripod.com. Under the site's links section the group proposes "Alternative sources and money saving tips for textbooks." In it they offer links to sites that allow "Book swapping just for Baruch students," and "online vendors of new and used books." The group has also posted tips on how to save money when buying textbooks.

An opinion piece written by Martinez and previously published in The Ticker is also posted on the website. The commentary, which is representative of the group's beliefs says, "Textbooks are too expensive, publishers unnecessarily inflate textbooks prices, and the buy back is too low."

Martinez also argues that the average amount of money that students pay per year for textbooks has drastically increased, that the minimal changes in new textbook editions are unnecessary, and that add-ons to textbooks are superfluous. Most importantly, she says that "Professors [sic] get kickbacks [from textbook companies]" for purchasing new but unnecessary editions of textbooks.

"We are not asking for handouts," Martinez said, "but we are looking for better deals on textbooks." To find better deals, Martinez believes that Baruchians do not have to be "ripped off" by the bookstore. There are other alternatives such as swapping textbooks with other students and buying textbooks overseas or online.

As a future plan Martinez added that she hoped to organize the "entire student body to rally together and have a unified student body boycott and not buy anything from the [Baruch] bookstore."

The boycott may be in the future, but for now Martinez is offering that students sign her petition. "If this is something students feel strongly about," Martinez said, students should contact her by e-mail at JM019251@baruch.cuny.edu or visit the aforementioned website and sign the guest book.