Proposed Resolution on Textbook Prices

Whereas Research by Public Interest Research Groups has shown that the price of college textbooks is rising and that students spent as much as 20% more on textbooks in 2003 than they spent in 1997, and

Whereas Textbook publishers add ancillaries that drive up the price of textbooks and most faculty do not use these materials, and

Whereas Textbook publishers put new editions on the market frequently, often with few content changes, making the less expensive, used textbooks obsolete and unavailable, and

Whereas 500 Math Professors recently signed a “call to action” urging publisher Thompson Learning to address student concerns about exorbitant textbook prices, and asking that Thompson Learning “continue to publish the current edition of Calculus: Early Transcendental until there has been significantly new content in the field of calculus….that would justify an update” and

Whereas San Francisco State University students are already struggling with tuition and fee increases as well as the high cost of living both on campus and in the San Francisco Bay Area, and

Whereas Further increases in tuition, fees and living costs are mandated or anticipated for

AY 2004-2005, and students are faced with increasing costs and decreasing course offerings, and

Whereas Alternatives to the highest price, most recent edition of many textbooks, when available, present little or no sacrifice of educational content or standard; therefore be it

Resolved That the teaching faculty of SFSU work in collaboration with the SFSU Bookstore to challenge the opportunistic and mercenary publishing practices of the textbook publishers and seek to find lower cost alternatives to high priced textbooks and, specifically, be it

Resolved That the bookstore notify faculty of the price of their chosen textbook and of less

expensive alternatives, and be it further

Resolved That the bookstore may reject textbooks that are made available only in their

“bundled” state, and be it further

Resolved That the sentiments expressed here be conveyed to the SFSU campus community, to major

textbook publishers, to Chancellor Charles B. Reed, to ASCSU, to the Higher Education

Committees of the State Assembly and State Senate and to the Governor.