The State Legislature passed two bills last week that advocate
for lower textbook fees on state college campuses ““ an action
that marks a significant victory for student organizers but calls
for no immediate change in university policies.
The assembly bills ““ sponsored by the student-run
environmental group the California Public Interest Research Group
““ encourages state universities to establish textbook rental
services and urges publishers to reduce extra material such as CDs
and workbooks that are typically packaged with the textbooks.
Assembly Bill 2678, authored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West
Hollywood, and Assembly Bill 2477, authored by Carol Liu, D-La
Cañada Flintridge, now awaits the approval of the
governor.
“The main reason that California has taken such an active
role is because textbooks are adding to the high cost of
college,” said Merriah Fairchild, the higher education
program advocate for CALPIRG.
While both bills show support for CALPIRG’s yearlong
campaign to reduce textbook costs (termed “Rip-off
101″), they leave the actual process of reduction to the
discretion of individual campuses and publishing companies.
The Koretz bill outlines a textbook rental service roadmap for
universities to follow that requires the collaboration of students,
faculty and administrators. The bill also calls for the service to
be self-sustaining and charge no more than 50 percent of textbook
fees that students currently pay.
“(The bill) clears a path for textbook rental services
that can save students hundreds of dollars per year,” Koretz
said.
The Liu bill, meanwhile, encourages publishers to take an active
role in reducing book prices by separating extra features from the
books and by disclosing what the differences are between
editions.
The implementation process calls for students to be more active
on their respective campuses, said Merriah Fairchild, the higher
education program advocate for CALPIRG
The group is currently pushing a “book swap” program
and has created a Web site to encourage collaboration and the start
of such a program.
At UCLA, a comparable program exists through the undergraduate
student government ““ the booklending program ““ and
CALPIRG would work to expand that program, said Mark Thornton,
CALPIRG board chairman.