Students call professors' books integral to course experience

At Princeton, seeing a professor's name in a textbook assigned for a class is not unusual. But at other institutions, like George Mason University, professors who assign textbooks they have authored may encounter resentment.

Some students at George Mason have recently argued that Kamaljeet Sanghera unfairly profits off her students by requiring them to buy a new copy of a textbook that she authored for one of her classes. Sanghera has defended her decision, arguing that the new copies contain a unique access code that students need to take final exams and that the book contains several chapters written by other authors.

But students and professors at Princeton said that if professors have contributed to a field of study, assigning their own work is far from profit-driven, but could be an integral part of the class experience.

Politics professor Evan Lieberman requires students to read his book, “Boundaries of Contagion: How Ethnic Politics Have Shaped Government Responses to AIDS,” for POL 351: Politics in the Developing Countries.

Lieberman said that he had been teaching material based on his own research as a unit of the course for several years. “When the book was published last spring, it seemed natural to assign it,” he explained.

Lieberman said he believes assigning his own reading can actually be an important pedagogical tool. “One of the best ways we can talk about the process of doing research is to relate firsthand our own scholarship, both by assigning the work and by narrating how it was done,” Lieberman said. “Presumably, we put forth our best ideas in our own articles and books — and when it is relevant to what we are teaching, I think we should share that with our students.”

The University does not have a policy regulating whether professors can require students to read or purchase their own work. “We trust our faculty to design the best possible readings for their courses without regard to authorship of materials that they use,” Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin said in an e-mail. “Because of this, we have no policy concerning the authorship of materials used.”

Creative writing professor Jeffrey Eugenides said in an e-mail that money is never a factor in assigning a work. Eugenides requires students in his classes — CWR 303/304: Advanced Creative Writing (Fiction) — to purchase an anthology he edited, “My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekhov to Munro,” but he said all proceeds from the purchase of the anthology go to 826 Chicago, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy.

In any case, the money earned from these book sales is minimal, he added. “Probably about $10 per semester, if you add it up,” Eugenides said.

Lieberman voiced a similar sentiment. “I am not sure that I could buy a nice lunch in Princeton from the sales of my book from my class,” he said.

Lieberman said that one potential danger from the practice is that students may “feel nervous about being critical.” But, he said, he encourages students to be critical of his work just as they would of any other.

Yujhan Claros ’10 — who took GER 1025: Intensive Intermediate German with professor Jamie Rankin, who wrote the required grammar textbook “Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik” — said he thinks this may be a possible problem.

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“The first thing that happens when you have to purchase textbooks for a class written by the professor is that you’re overcome with this sense of awe for the professor that is very curious, because they’re published,” Claros said. This can overemphasize the distance between the professor and the student, he explained.

But students overall said that using the works of their professors is beneficial to their class experience.

Claros said he was thrilled to have used Rankin’s book. “Jamie Rankin’s system for teaching German is just remarkable,” he said. “If Jamie Rankin has written a grammar of German that very clearly lays out the German language for English speakers ... there’s no reason that this very effective grammar not be used.”

A required text for COS 126: General Computer Science, “Introduction to Programming in Java,” is co-written by Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne, two computer science professors who often teach the course.

Akhil Reddy ’13, who is in Wayne’s precept this semester, said he thinks that “everyone loves the book ... It’s a really good textbook and Kevin Wayne is awesome.” Reddy said that while he sees why there could theoretically be a conflict of interest, he does not think anyone has a problem with using Wayne and Sedgwick’s book. Doing so, he said, is in fact a positive aspect of the course.

“You can better design a course around a textbook you actually wrote — you know all the ins and outs of the book,” Reddy said. “And you’ll be able to better match the curriculum to exercises in the textbook and readings.”

Claros noted that studying texts written by University professors is something that should be expected. “We’re at Princeton ... so all of the professors here have the [credentials].”