Professors lobby textbook publishers for policy changes

The rising costs of textbooks is currently being countered by a coalition of students and faculty — including several University professors — led by the California Student Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG).

These include the publisher-added "bells and whistles," unnecessary textbook supplements such as CD-ROMS that drive up costs. Following the report, CALPIRG launched a campaign to lower the price of Thomson Learning textbooks.

After conducting a series of surveys at public colleges and universities in California and Oregon with other research groups, CALPIRG issued a report in January titled "Ripoff 101: How the Current Practices of the Textbook Industry Drive Up the Cost of College Textbooks." The report cites the most important factors leading to an increase of textbook prices.

The campaign culminated in a call to action signed by over 500 mathematics faculty members from around the country and sent to Ronald Schlosser, president and CEO of Thomson Learning.

Katrin Wehrheim and Hale Trotter, both faculty members in Princeton's math department, were the two University representatives to sign the petition. Though the letter addresses concerns relating to all textbooks in general, the report specifically addresses the fifth edition of Thomson's "Calculus: Early Transcendentals."

The participating mathematics faculty members expressed concern that the previous edition of the widely used book was on the market for only three years before the fifth edition was published. The faculty who signed the petition did not believe the revisions to the textbook justified an entirely new edition, according to the call for action.

"The editors should know that teachers also have their concerns about the book," Wehrheim said.

She said she was surprised in general by the "poor quality" of the textbooks used in her course, compared to the books she used when she previously taught in Europe. Moreover, the book she said she and her students "were forced to use" was also more expensive than the books she had used before coming to the United States.

The letter proposed that Thomson commit to four primary changes in the process of publishing textbooks.

First, they asked that the same edition be published until significant changes are made.

"Calculus hasn't changed that much in the last hundred years," David Puzey, the University of California at Irvine campus organizer and Orange County point-person for CALPIRG, said in an interview.

Several of the ways in which publishers attempt to increase the costs are "particularly unjustified," Puzey said, pointing to the supplements used by the publishing company to validate new editions. Also, he said publishing companies are often unconcerned with the content of new editions and instead hope "to put more money in their pockets."

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The second suggestion made by the call for action is to "establish a more transparent and fair pricing scheme."

Puzey said the significantly lower costs of books in Europe and the Middle East may show that publishing companies are attempting to "price-gouge" American students.

The remaining two points of the report asked that Thomson inform faculty of relevant information such as how long textbooks are expected to stay on the market. The faculty also requested that Thomson produce an online version of the "Calculus: Early Transcendentals" book and "pass the cost savings on to students."

As an example, CALPIRG, in their "Ripoff 101" report, described how University economics professor Paul Krugman has teamed up with Princeton economist Robin Wells and Stanford University economics professor Paul Romer to create online versions of their upcoming economics textbooks.

David Rosenfeld, the organizer and director for CALPIRG's campus program, admitted that the causes of financial stress for college students are not limited to textbooks.

However, the strain that textbook prices add to the problem might prevent lower-income students from attending college or from participating in extracurricular activities so that they can hold a job, Rosenfeld said in an interview.

Rosenfeld agreed with Puzey that publishing companies often "artificially inflate costs of textbooks."

Ronald Dunn, president and chief executive officer of Thomson Learning's academic group, replied to the call for action in an April 15 letter sent via email to the faculty who had signed the petition. In the letter, he addressed several points, including international pricing, the fifth edition of "Calculus: Early Transcendentals" and other specific topics mentioned in the faculty's letter to Thomson.

For instance, he wrote that many of the facts in the "Ripoff 101" report were based on "flawed and unreliable research." Dunn noted that among all of the California colleges surveyed by CALPIRG, none were community colleges, which he said showed the survey was not a representative sample.

The response also defended the new edition of "Calculus: Early Transcendentals" and its price, explaining revisions were "prepared with extensive input from many faculty around the country." Given that students often sell their textbooks back to bookstores, Dunn said he did not see how the costs of textbooks "could be considered a burdensome part of the total cost of a student's education."

Six members of different math departments around the country responded to Dunn's reply in a letter sent on April 21. In their response, the faculty wrote that the "attack on CALPIRG is unfair and unjustified."

The response letter further contended that Thomson's defense for the pricing methods "does not entirely add up," reiterating Thomson's development of unnecessary new editions of textbooks.

Following CALPIRG's report, Thomson agreed to publish an "Advantage Series" which would have fewer frills and therefore be less expensive. However, Puzey said the series is one of "limited steps" taken by Thomson. The series will be available for only a select number of textbooks.

Rosenfeld called Thomson's new series "another positive first step . . . but, again, it's a very small step."

Thomson has also pledged to reduce the price of certain textbooks in bookstores at the University of California at Los Angeles. The prices of three widely used math textbooks, including the fifth edition of the calculus textbook, will be lowered by roughly 20 percent, according to the contract between UCLA and Thomson.

Despite the limited progress, the collaborative effort established by CALPIRG is important in order to stand up to publishing companies, Rosenfeld said.

"What's one department when it goes up against a major industry?" he added. Looking toward the future, Rosenfeld said, "We have no intention of backing down at this point."

Wehrheim, who received Thomson's response letter, said that despite the fact that Thomson representatives "question a lot of points CALPIRG made," she was "basically happy that [Thomson] responded at all and thought about the matter."

She added she wants Thomson to know "they're being watched."