SGA passes Freedom of Book Information Act

Author: Samantha Michaels

After nine months of drafting and weeks of heated debate, the Student Government Association (SGA) gathered on May 4 to pass the Freedom of (Textbook) Information Bill, which calls for the online publication of course booklists before the start of each semester. Under this resolution, students would gain earlier access to every book's title, author, publisher, publishing date and ISBN number, providing them with an opportunity to potentially avoid high Book Store prices and purchase course materials through alternative, less costly avenues.

According to newly elected SGA President Bobby Joe Smith III '09, the Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill is long overdue. The student body has repeatedly voiced its discontent with excessive expenses of books at the College, but due to the Book Store's current monopoly on booklist information - as well as its relatively late disclosure of this information - some students feel they do not have enough time to take advantage of discounted online prices without risking academic penalties.

"At most other universities, students can see the booklists when they're registering for classes," said Smith. "I believe that it's our right as students and as consumers to be able to decide where we want to purchase our materials. It's a violation of anti-trust laws to withhold this information from us."

Cook SGA Senator Jonathon Kay '11 agreed, "I commend what the Book Store is trying to do, and I know that they are trying to provide us with the lowest cost as possible, but unfortunately that cost is not comparable whatsoever with the Internet cost," said Kay. "We're paying $500 a semester for books, when we could go online and pay $200."

Yet although the SGA easily identified this problem many months ago, the process of drafting a bill and coming to a resolution has proven to be long and difficult, involving lengthy negotiations with the Book Store in addition to disagreements among SGA representatives themselves.

As explained by SGA Sophomore Senator Vrutika Mody '10, an instrumental leader in the booklist taskforce, the SGA has cooperated with the Book Store since September 2007 and attempted to develop a solution which would be mutually beneficial and agreeable, but the negotiations have failed to produce tangible or satisfactory results.

"Instead of alienating the Book Store, we started by working with them," said Mody, who has personally been speaking with Book Store Manager Bob Jansen since the beginning of the year. "It's a really tricky subject, because what you're asking the Book Store to do is to put all of their information online and possibly reduce their own profits."

After discussing possibilities with the Book Store, the SGA concluded in the middle of last semester that it would post booklists on the Book Store Web site. According to Smith, however, Jansen retracted his cooperation a few weeks ago when Mody contacted him to clarify logistical plans.

Jansen expressed his view of the situation in an online interview. "The real issue for the majority of Middlebury students affecting what a student pays overall each semester for books is not the lack of access to book information, but how timely the Bookstore is able to receive that information from the faculty," he wrote in an e-mail. Moreover, according to Jansen, if students shop for books online the Book Store policy may become more restrictive, with the business only buying-back books originally purchased at the College. In addition, he wrote, the individual packaging and shipping of Internet-purchased books will increase the global carbon footprint.

"The bottom line is this," summed up Jansen in the e-mail interview. "It would be better for the majority of students, the environment and the College to support the local Middlebury College Bookstore. [By doing so, students will be] facilitating timely textbook adoptions and allowing the Bookstore to source more used textbooks (and therefore pay more for books at buyback), rather than supporting approaches that would benefit certain individuals over the collective majority."

Jansen's decision left the SGA with a difficult choice and a momentous debate - representatives could either keep seeking Book Store cooperation or instead pursue their Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill as an independent initiative - regardless of administrative support.

Smith simply stated the SGA's predicament.

"We all believe that the booklist should be published, but in what manner?" he said. Fearful of alienating Jansen or putting him on the defensive, many SGA members have argued to continue working with the Book Store. Others have contended that the SGA must be willing to move forward independently if it is to ensure the timely resolution of this issue.

At the May 4 SGA meeting, the tide of opinion began tilting heavily toward the latter camp. Ultimately, the SGA decreed that "if a tangible and agreeable effort is not demonstrated by the Book Store over the summer to supply booklists for the fall semester, the SGA will explore other alternatives for providing the information by appealing to the student body and faculty to resolve the situation."

Mody rationalized her approval of the bill. "[Jansen and I] have managed to find common ground," she admitted, "but that said, it's been nine months now, and we realized that although we want to be agreeable with the Book Store, there was a lot of momentum from the student body itself. And our constituency is the students - it's not the Book Store. So I think what we agreed on last meeting is that it's really unfair to all these people we've been promising things to, to leave this up in the air, when there are things that we can do about it."

Indeed, the SGA has several options. Later this week, Mody will meet again with Jansen to determine the likelihood of Book Store cooperation. Depending upon Jansen's response, the SGA may or may not assemble its own technological team this summer to install an interim, online booklist for the fall, either on Banner Web or its own SGA We site. This would be a rudimentary Internet solution for the short term, involving anything from a Microsoft Word document of booklists to posted course syllabi, because as stated by Ashwin Gargeya '08, "Anything is better than nothing." With initial booklist access provided by August, the SGA will open the issue up for student and faculty input to create an increasingly efficient system for the College's community.

Smith believes that the SGA has adequate resources for such an endeavor. "We have enough talent from the student body," he said. "Hiba [Fakhoury '09], my chief-of-staff, is a major in Computer Science and she says that putting up a Web site with all the booklist information would not be very difficult at all." According to Kay, the most challenging obstacle would be persuading professors to respect May submission deadlines for their booklists so that the information is accessible to students in August.

Nevertheless, the SGA wants it to be known that although its preferred option was a joint-effort with the Book Store, Jansen's interests are justifiable and his reservations toward working with the SGA are understandable.

"Everybody is hesitant about framing this [bill] as a battle against the Book Store," said Smith, "because I don't think that's it at all."

Smith, Mody and other SGA representatives sympathize with Jansen's situation. As a private business, the Book Store does attempt to bring affordable books to the students while maintaining the right to seek the best possible profit.

"Bob Jansen can't lower the prices because they're contingent upon the wholesale buyers. The SGA understands that he's locked in to the high prices," Smith explained.

"Still," he continued, "[Jansen] has to compete as a business against other sources. He can't eliminate competition because
that's illegal."

Whether or not the Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill is implemented independently or with the Book Store, Smith articulated the SGA's willingness to help Jansen boost his profits through avenues such as a book fair. Jansen, in turn, has reasserted his commitment to the students by proposing a book recycle campaign called "A Book is a Terrible Thing to Waste," planning to allocate the resulting wholesale buyback values to provide free books for designated customers. These efforts, in combination with the newly passed Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill, will hopefully reduce student expenses for course materials next year.

In the end, though the precise level and nature of Book Store cooperation remains uncertain, one thing is clear - the SGA is determined to implement its initiative sometime this summer, and one way or another, senators intend to transform their Freedom of (Textbook) Information bill from a written draft to concrete action.

"It should be up to the SGA to make sure that [a booklist] is published and it's up to the school to make sure that it's published, whether it's through the Book Store or not," said Smith. "I don't want to undercut the Book Store, but we feel that if we can't come to a resolution with [them] then we should put it up somewhere else."

"I serve the students," echoed Kay. "I care about getting [booklist] information out to the students - period."