SGA textbook bill put to test

Author: Kathryn Flagg

In what was heralded as significant legislation from the Student Government Association, the SGA voted unanimously earlier this year to encourage professors to submit textbook requests to the College Store in a timely manner - the main thrust in an attempt to lower the rising cost of textbooks for students. While the Textbook Requisition Forms Legislation strives to educate and encourage faculty to meet the necessary College Store deadlines, the bill's quantitative influence will be tested in the coming weeks as this term's "book buy-back" and the spring textbook sales draw near.

According to the College Store, the real results of the legislation will not be fully seen for another week and a half, when the Store will accept "buy backs" from students wishing to sell textbooks. Still, College Store employees and SGA officials remain confident that the bill will have an impact on textbook prices.

"I believe it'll work," said Assistant Manager of the College Store Georgia Best.

The SGA's bill recommended that the Faculty Council promote a deadline requiring that requisition forms be submitted four months before the beginning of each semester. This would allow the College Store to produce an accurate and complete inventory of required textbooks. By limiting the number of new and more expensive books that the store is required to purchase, this deadline could save students as much as $337.50 per year in textbook purchases. When requisition forms - the paperwork professors must fill out to indicate the books they will require for future classes - are turned in on time, the bookstore is both able to buy used books back from students and compete with other colleges and universities for used textbooks from outside companies.

In terms of faculty response, more professors turned in textbook request forms this year. "It's better than it has been in the past," Best said. The response, however, has been far from overwhelming - many departments and individual professors have still not handed in the requisition forms. With a week and a half until the buy-back period begins, there is still a narrow window for professors to turn in their requests, according to Best.

Adam Irish '08.5, SGA press secretary and one of the authors of the SGA's requisition bill, said that "about double" the number of forms were turned in by the Store's deadline on Friday than had been in previous years. He explained that many professors have legitimate reasons for missing the bookstore's deadline, but said that the faculty's response to the bill was "very supportive."

"It's just difficult getting such a large group of people on the same page," he said.

After the buy back period, Best and other College Store employees will turn to the textbook market to purchase as many used books as possible. Because of competition from other schools and institutions, the Store stands the best chance of securing used textbooks in the next few weeks - a prospect that is entirely dependent upon faculty filing requisition forms in a timely manner.

Will students see the fruits of the SGA and College Store's labors? Ward Patterson, textbook associate with the College Store, noted that students are not likely to notice any change unless that change is extraordinary - a "200 percent increase" in used textbooks, for instance. Patterson also noted that the requisition legislation likely require more than one semester to fully influence textbook prices, particularly when significant changes are dependant upon altering the habits of professors who have taught at the College for years.

"It's entirely possible that students won't notice the change," said Irish. "However, there should be a change in some classes, a marked change. It's a long process."

"We'll see the most decisive change around buy back," he said.