Board opens possibility of rental textbooks

The board joins federal and state legislators in the fight against expensive textbooks.

Tuesday trustees unanimously voted in favor of extending the district's bookstore contract with Follett Higher Education Group Inc. for two years during the regular monthly board meeting at Killen Center.

The extension would be for March 1 through Feb. 28, 2012, and includes an amendment with the option of rental textbooks and e-books this fall for students.

Alan Stratman, vice president of marketing and sales for the Follett group, said this district would probably be the first community college to put ink to this deal.

He explained that this was a new model for their company but has so far been successful.

District 9 trustee James Rindfuss said a rental program would be largely dependent on faculty and asked the Follett representatives to report to the board about the level of faculty commitment.

Faculty Senate President Jeff Hunt came to the podium and said he agreed with Rindfuss specifically because faculty should have no more than two textbooks per course and not all faculty members do that.

Hunt noted that Follett representatives have been helpful trying to get the word out about the changing textbook laws.

These include House Bill 1096, which states that there must be a notice available to students that informs them that they are not obligated to buy textbooks through a university-affiliated bookstore.

A new state law, HB 2504, requires universities to provide public, online access to course information and be no more than three-clicks from the college home page.

Beginning this fall, instructors need to post their syllabuses and student evaluations along with required or recommended reading material.

The textbook provision of the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act requires publishers to provide the net price at which the publisher would make the material available to the campus bookstore, copyright dates of the three previous editions, if any, with a description of substantial revisions, whether it is available in any other format, including paperback, and the price of that material.

Also required is the publication of ISBN number or International Standard Book Number of the textbook material in course schedules.

If this information is not available they must post "to be determined."

This federal mandate goes into effect July 1.

The faculty deadline for book adoptions is March 15 for summer and April 15 for fall.

Amy Turpin, San Antonio College Bookstore manager, sent a list of policies for the rental program that included these terms.

The rental policy includes the guarantee that a textbook is at least half off the price of the new textbook.

Renters need to be at least 18 years old, with a valid credit card, an e-mail address and a driver's license or state ID. Students also can use a debit card that bears the logo of a major credit card company.

Books are due after finals by the return date on the receipt, and a sticker will be placed on the textbook as a reminder. The bookstore will also send e-mails to remind students of the date.

Should a renter not return a textbook by that date, the bookstore will charge the rest of the cost of the book to their credit card along with a processing fee.

Not all textbooks will be available under the rental program, but Follett officials assured the board it will offer as many as possible. E-books account for less than 2 percent of the 2,600 titles offered in the bookstore.

Before the vote, Dr. Robert Aguero, vice chancellor for academic success, estimated the students in the district would save $882,073 by using rentals.

All trustees were present except Dr. Bernard Weiner, District 1; Anna Bustamante, District 3; Marcelo Casillas, District 4; and Gary Beitzel, District 8.

In other news, the citizens-to-be-heard section of the meeting included a full-time adjunct journalism instructor with suggestions on improving efficiency in payroll and fair treatment of adjunct faculty members.

Jerry Townsend, who teaches five courses in the media communications department, made the point that adjuncts should not be paid more than six weeks after the start of a semester.

He said it is unequal and unfair that nonadjunct faculty get paid on Jan. 15 while adjuncts are paid their first check on Feb. 12, if at all.

Townsend told the board of another full-time adjunct in the department who experienced his health insurance being canceled because he hadn't received pay. Another lecturer previously went an entire semester before she was paid.

While Townsend said some of the issues were in the process of being resolved, he hoped the board would make equitable and timely pay for all employees a priority.