USGD President Joseph Grossman is trying to create a book pledge with Downtown professors to continue to use the same textbook for fixed periods of time.
The textbook pledge is an agreement teachers sign that says they will pledge to keep to the same editions of textbooks rather than force students to buy the new editions of the textbook every year. Grossman said this will then lower costs for students.
“The textbook pledge is an initiative, and the idea behind it is if you could get teachers to lock down on using economic books, the supply and demand would essentially equalize,” Grossman said.
When students are done using the book, they can turn it back in to the bookstore and receive about the same amount of money spent purchasing the book.
“It’s more or less focusing on how to cut costs of books by being innovative and implementing a structure that allows teachers to pledge to the books,” Grossman said.
Spanish professor Audra Travelbee said that if she had control over what textbooks were used in Spanish classes, she would consider signing the textbook pledge because of its affordability for students.
“I think it’s an interesting idea,” Travelbee said. “I can see both sides because I understand that the bookstore needs to control costs, but I know that textbooks are ridiculously overpriced.”
Travelbee said that occasionally, old editions of textbooks might cause problems in the classroom if they are not accurate and up-to-date, which is why any agreement to the textbook pledge would strongly depend on which book was being used for the extended period of time.
Journalism junior Ellen Kuni said the textbook pledge is a great idea since she does not see the need for updated editions of textbooks every year.
“It is such a rip-off going to the bookstore when you spend $100 on a book and then when you go to sell it back you get around $10 for it,” Kuni said. “Where does the money go and why are they changing these editions every year?”
Health and wellness sophomore Mykaila Hartman echoed Kuni’s beliefs about the unnecessary reasons for using updated textbooks.
“I don’t think there is that big of a difference between one edition to another,” Hartman said. “You would be saving money for students and that makes their education better because they wouldn’t have to waste their money on different things.”
So far, Grossman has informed University President Michael Crow about the initiative and it has been passed in the Provost office. Grossman said the next step is to go directly to the teachers and convince them to agree to the pledge.
“We want to catch teachers before they agree to book producers and pledge to something they don’t need,” Grossman said.
The bookstore declined to comment at this time.
Contact the reporter at brepasi@asu.edu
