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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
01.22.07
ASG passes textbook rental plan
By: Alexander Trowbridge, Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE - Tensions among delegations did not stop the UNC-system Association of Student Governments from making progress Saturday during its monthly meeting at UNC-Charlotte.
The key issue, a proposed textbook rental program for the 16 campuses in the system, unanimously passed the ASG's general assembly.
"I think that what occurred at this meeting was awesome," ASG President Derek Pantiel said.
"We finally accomplished something tangible."
The association will submit its proposal Friday to Rob Nelson, UNC-system vice president of finance.
In doing so, Pantiel said, the ASG hopes Nelson will include the proposal in his update report to the system Board of Governors on Feb. 8.
UNC-Chapel Hill junior Jake Parton, vice president for academic and student affairs, said the pressure of the approaching deadline is substantial as he had not received requested textbook information from all campuses until last Thursday.
Parton's staff will have a week to compile the data to include in the proposal.
"I feel this is a sound, defensible proposal right now," Parton assured the assembly. "But give us a week, and we'll make it even more solid."
Though the proposal was passed unanimously among student members, textbook rental programs have seen opposition from faculty.
Judith Wegner, department chairwoman for the UNC-CH School of Law, said she has reservations about the partial rental program.
The rising cost of textbooks, she argued, should not be addressed at the system level.
Wegner said that though UNC-system President Erskine Bowles initially was impressed with the rental program at Appalachian State University, it would be too problematic to implement a generic solution to the different system campuses.
The cost for a systemwide program would be unfeasible, she said, estimating an initial expense of $50 million.
She added that there could be limitations to academic freedom because the proposal might encourage the standardization of teaching styles.
Wegner's advice was for the ASG to instead work on the problem at the campus level.
Parton said student body presidents must work to build support for the proposal.
"The biggest thing about this is going to be getting the word out on your campuses," he said. "If students don't know about this, we're going to be wasting our time."
The program would offer discounted rental materials for introductory courses, bought with funds from a systemwide student fee.
The delegations gave preliminary approval for the textbook proposal provided Parton make three specific amendments.
Because most upperclassmen would not be taking the introductory courses covered by the rental program, the delegates requested a way for upperclassman to be exempted from the fee.
The body also wanted to see a requirement that teachers use all of the textbooks they assign, along with the addition of specific statistics and professional opinions within the ASG proposal.
The proposal, Parton said, is building credibility for the ASG.
"We're already seeing dividends in the way we're treated when we walk in the door," Parton said.
"It's gaining us respect, which I think is the big thing."
