Students told to buy textbooks written by their professors may get the right of refusal if a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly gains traction.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, says students at public universities don't have to buy textbooks from professors who have a financial interest in the materials assigned.
A University of Tennessee government relations liaison scoffed at the proposed legislation at a recent meeting of the UT board of trustees, saying professors who have written textbooks should be prized, not punished.
Anthony Haynes told trustees it doesn't make sense to recruit the nation's top academics and tell them that students don't have to buy their published research for classwork.
Some college students have a different opinion.
"These professors are lining their pockets," said Tres Wittum, a senior at UTC who was required to purchase a professor's book for a class. "They are not well known, and they are probably not going to sell a bunch of copies."
Bob Swansbrough, political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who teaches with his book "Test by Fire" about the foreign policies of President George W. Bush, said he thinks assigning his book helps garner respect from students about his expertise.
"I think it's good for students to see that our UTC faculty are active scholars in their field, engaged in research, excited about their and professionals who publish in their discipline," Dr. Swansbrough said.
The bill is currently on hold, but Rep. Campfield said he plans to push the legislation in the next few weeks.
He said several University of Tennessee students, especially those in the social sciences, have told him they are concerned about professors assigning texts they have written, then writing updates to the texts so students can't sell the books as used.
"Teachers are getting a book and changing it every year and the old books are useless," Rep. Campfield said. "(This bill) is a way of trying to keep people from victimizing a captive audience."
Rep. Campfield said he has gotten a lot of push back from UT officials, who argue university professors should be writing books and using them in classes. Tenure and promotion at colleges often is tied to the number and quality of published works.
Professors also use publications to boost their earnings because faculty pay hasn't increased in several years, he said.
"They have come out and said this could hurt our professors' earning capacity," Rep. Campfield. "It is proof positive that there needs to be a change."
The bill was among several pieces of legislation UT officials told trustees they are following because they affect the university.
Hank Dye, UT system vice chancellor for public and government relations, said he would not discuss the bill because it was taken off the table in the House Higher Education Subcommittee.
"I am not going to talk about it as long as its not an active bill," he said. "There is nothing to talk about unless we know what it is going to look like."
UT board Vice Chairman Jim Murphy said colleges should make sure professors are assigning the best textbooks for their classes, but he said it is shortsighted to limit professors in what they can or cannot ask the students to read.
"The reality is that we encourage our professors to publish and be leaders in their field, which is recognized by a publisher publishing a textbook that they write," Mr. Murphy said. "We need to be careful if there is an abuse of that situation. We need to be careful about using books because they are good books, not just because a professor has published them."
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
Seems like our State reps might worry about bigger issues. The amount of money a professor gets from from each book sold is just a couple of dollars unless it is self-published. The amount of hours it takes to write probably makes the entire project less profitable than a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant.
If you believe it's not a racket, you must not have a kid in college.
I'm pretty sure this bill was started by somebody that wants to get back at their professor(s) and hurt their in come worse.
I tried to make clear to the reporter the bill would not stop the professor from possibly requiring a book they authored. It would only keep them from directly profiting from that sale. They could still require the book then forgo the kickback they get from the book publisher for their classes sales.
Rep. Stacey Campfield
As a student, I'm on the fence about this. We would like our professors to be experts in their fields, and experts write books. I don't mind purchasing a book written by one of my professors as long as it is relevant to the course. I had to purchase a book written by one of my professors this semester that has little to do with the subject. I would at least like to see some transparency about the amount of money professors are making from sales of their own books and the involvement of department heads to ensure the books are suitable for the courses.
Of greater concern to me is the textbook companies who provide financial incentives to professors to use their books. These books are usually very expensive and frequently/dubiously updated, which decreases the availability of used copies and ensures more sales of new books.
Rep. Stacey Campfield claims that:
If it is not happening then why should they be against it?
Rep. Stacey Campfield asks:
I am constructive and fair-minded, so I would like to give Rep. Campfield credit for a good idea.
In his own words:
That is already done by some universities. The problem is the first kid in a 200 person class to get their hands on the book keeps it until the end of the year. Everyone else gets nothing.
I wrote:
Obama passes US health reform by narrow margin guardian.co.uk, Monday 22 March 2010 02.49 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/health-care-vote-us-obama
If you are looking for cheap college books I recommend visiting CheapestTextbooks at http://www.CheapestTextbooks.com
I notice that one of the books in the article is by Bob Swansbrough, political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who wrote and teaches from his book, "Test by Fire" about the foreign policies of President George W. Bush in regards to the Iraq war, and the repercussions associated with it.
I wonder if these are the types of books the Republican representative wishes our students to not have access to study. Perhaps the good representative has a political agenda?
Shall we just disregard the impact the war has had upon our nation and the lessons we need to learn from this debacle?
My son is a student at UTC majoring in political science and has had nothing put praise for the above named professor.
http://alumnus.tennessee.edu/2008/05/test-by-fire/
Perhaps the author of this article, Joan Garrett, should also point out that Tres Wittum, who is quoted in the article as saying, "These professors are lining their pockets," is the current Chairman of the UTC Tennesse College Republicans.
Nice objective reporting there Joan. Any special reason you left out his affiliation as Chairman of College Republicans or did you just wish to portray him as Joe Average who you just happened to quote for the article.
The article says further that the College Republican Chairman was "a senior at UTC who was required to purchase a professor's book for a class". Perhaps this is the book by Professor Swansbrough?
I am sure Mr. Whittum has no obligation to take the specific course of the professors.
Pretty obvious the author of the article, the student, and the representative have a political agenda here.
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