Seven hundred math and physics professors from 150 universities nationwide have called on Thompson Learning to take steps to reduce the costs of textbooks for college students, the California Public Interest Research Group has announced.
As a result of the Affordable Textbook Campaign launched last year by the Public Interest Research Groups including CALPIRG, 180 physics professors and more than 500 mathematics professors signed two letters to the CEO of the textbook publisher, Ronald Schlosser, stating that many of the company’s policies unfairly increase the price of textbooks for American students.
Among the signatories to the letters were 15 UCSD professors and lecturers, including visiting mathematics professor Kathy Kailikole, who felt that the rising cost of education should not be exacerbated by the price of textbooks.
Specifically, the professors called on Thompson Learning to decrease the frequency of its updates for two books, Serway’s “Physics for Scientists and Engineers” (Sixth Edition) and Stewart’s “Calculus: Early Transcendentals” (Fifth Edition). According to the study conducted by CALPIRG, the previous editions of these two books were only available for four years before they were updated.
“While textbook editions must be updated periodically to reflect new teaching methods and so forth, we do not believe that the content of [these] particular update[s] justified an entirely new edition,” both letters stated. “This is especially the case when one takes into account the additional expense new editions create for many students and the additional time faculty members must take to revise syllabi and other instructional materials to accommodate the changes to the text.”
Speaking on behalf of Thompson Learning and the textbook industry, the Association of American Publishers dismissed the letters, calling the CALPIRG data flawed.
“My members and I have met with PIRG representatives for more than 18 months to create an open discussion and share data,” AAP President Patricia Schroeder stated in a press release. “Unfortunately, PIRG continues to attempt to influence the media and public by ignoring valid research and information from independent, third-party sources, returning again and again to figures assembled by biased student volunteers. PIRG just doesn’t let the facts get in their way.”
According to a study trumpeted by the AAP, 80 percent of the 1,029 faculty members surveyed said that it was important for textbooks to be as current as possible. Additionally, 62 percent said that they ordered textbooks with the most recent copyright date and 38 percent said that they were satisfied with the frequency of the updates.
The letters to Thompson Learning also asked the textbook giant to decrease the price disparity between the price of textbooks in the United States and abroad. According to the letter, a used calculus book published by Thompson Learning costs an American student more than $120, while it sells for the equivalent of $100 in Canada and $60 in England.
According to the AAP, however, the price of textbooks overseas is based on the individual markets, and helps publishers recoup some of the costs of production which would otherwise be passed on to American students.
The two sides have been deadlocked in recent discussions without any budging, according to correspondences posted on the Web site of the state PIRGs. However, according to the CALPIRG affordable textbook campaign Campus Coordinator for UCSD Derlin Hsu, processes are under way in hopes of breaking the deadlock.
“Congress is doing an investigation right now, which should come out in July,” Hsu stated in an e-mail. “We are doing our own research that will come out next September. In the meantime, we are still discussing this issue on the administrative level with academic senates across the UC system and trying to convince them to adopt our resolutions on this issue.”
