The News Argus
www.thenewsargus.com
Winston-Salem State University’s Student Newspaper
April 7, 2008
Students: Textbooks too pricey
Chancellor opens up office
to students
Chancellor Reaves has announced that his office is avail
able for meetings with students during the office hours
listed below to ensure he is able to spend time with stu
dents and ascertain their satisfaction with campus life.
Students who are unable to see the chancellor at one of the
allotted times should return during the next time period.
Meetings will be given on a first come, first served basis. If
you wish to meet with the chancellor, come to the Office of
the Chancellor, Second floor, Blair Hall, and give the recep
tionist your name, classification and major.
Chancellor’s Office Hours for ti/leeting with Students
April 2008-June 2008
Chancellor's Office
Monday, April 21
Wednesday, May 21
1 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.
5 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
4 p.m. -4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 30
Thursday, May 29
8 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
8:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
4 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Wednesday, May 7
Tuesday, June 3
8:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
4 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ■
Monday, May 12
Tuesday, June 10
1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
8:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
4 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Installation Schedule Of Events
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Faculty Event: Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium,
Continental Breakfast—8:15 a.m. I Faculty Forum—9 a.m.
University Luncheon: Noon, Bowman Gray Stadium
Fieldhouse.
Student Forum: 3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m., Kenneth R. Williams
Auditorium
Alumni/Community Forum: 7. p.m., Albert H. Anderson
Conference Center, Dillard Auditorium
Friday, April 11, 2008
Installation Ceremony: 10 a.m., M.C. Benton Jr.
Convention Center
Delegates' Luncheon (not open to the public): noon, M.C.
Benton Jr. Convention Center,
Gala: (black tie) (not open to the public) 8 p.m.-midnight,
M.C. Benton Jr. Convention Center
♦ ♦ ♦
The News Argus Poll
Current Question at thenewsargus.com
Do You Find Open Campus Profanity Offensive?
Red-Yes
Orange-No
Blue-Not Sure
This The News Argus poll is not scientific and reflects the
opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to partici
pate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of
Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole.
65%
22%
Erik Spencer
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Savvy marketing has
helped increase sales of
textbooks, perpetuating the
rise in the price. Faculty
and students alike feel
these rising costs as they
purchase new books each
semester.
John Ray, the Winston-
Salem State campus book
store manager, said that
the cost of textbooks
depends on several factors.
At a recent class forum
designed to answer stu
dents' questions about text
books, Ray said that they
are typically authored by
teachers from hundreds of
universities across
America, and that books
are becoming more graph
ics oriented, which adds to
the books' printing costs
and ultimately to the book
prices.
The campus bookstore at
WSSU, where Ray has been
manager for seven years, is
operated by a company
called eFollet, which has a
25 percent profit margin on
the textbooks it sells.
Ray said that the book
store isn't entirely to blame
for the high price of text
books, either.
"We are told what to
carry, whatever the teach
ers choose," he said.
In fact, teachers' desire to
keep up with new editions
of textbooks seems to be
the crux of the problem.
"Administration has
encouraged the sale of
books," said a faculty
member of WSSU, who
asked to remain anony
mous. "If we make a book
optional for a class, stu
dents won't buy it."
The need for books
remains ambiguous for
some.
Students such as Brittney
Clinton, an education
major at WSSU, feel that
books are unnecessary.
"Half of the instructors
don't even use the book,"
she said.
Others feel that the price
of textbooks should be
included in the tuition and
fees of the university.
Marquita Gulley, an educa
tion major at WSSU, said
that the prices have
become "outrageous."
"As much as we pay for
tuition, books should be
included," she said.
Pressure on the faculty to
adopt current editions of
textbooks has fueled
demand, therefore keeping
prices high. The average
price of a new textbook
now is around $70.
Laine Goldman, a mass
communications professor,
is a proponent of lowering
the prices of textbooks.
"I think if teachers start
looking at this realisti
cally—they'll say I can use
this book another [semes
ter]."
In recent weeks,
Goldman has spent her
time encouraging teachers
Photo by Grant Fulton
The cost of textbooks depends on several factors.
to use textbooks for more
than one semester, which
ultimately keeps down the
cost of books.
If a teacher picks a book
to be used for the next
semester, students who
currently own the book
will receive one-half the
purchase price back when
the campus bookstore buys
back used books.
April 1 was the deadline
for teachers to make a deci
sion about using a book
next semester.
If, for some reason.
teachers didn't make a
decision by the first of
April, students will not
receive "The Half Back
Guarantee."
Selling books back to the
campus bookstore means
there are more copies of
lower-costing used books.
Colleges in North Carolina
are bound by law to pro
vide at least 25 percent
used books. The campus
bookstore currently has
around 38 percent used
books in stock.
WSSU to host Jesse Jackson
Inside. . .
2nd Annual Sistah Big Bone
STAFF REPORT
Illustration by The News Argus staff
Most participants in a recent poll on The News Argus
Web site, www.thenewsargus.com, said they found
open profanity on campus offensive.
JACKSON
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson will lecture for the Student Forum of
Chancellor Donald J. Reaves' installation at Winston-Salem State on
Thursday, April 10, at 3:30 p.m. in Kenneth R. Williams Auditorium.
Jackson is a civil and human rights leader,
president and founder of the Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition and a two-time Democratic candidate
for President of the United States.
The forum is part of the two-day schedule of
activities surrounding the Chancellor's installa
tion. Jackson's address is free and open to the
public. The title of the address is "The Role and I
Relevance of Historically Black Colleges
Yesterday and Today."
HBCUs collectively enroll approximately
300,000 students. HBCUs award 28 percent of
the bachelors degrees, 16 percent of professional degrees, 15 percent of
masters' degrees, and 9 percent of doctoral degrees earned by African-
Americans. HBCUs remain the primary undergraduate home of most
African-American Ph.D. recipients. Army officers, federal judges, and
medical doctors.
Jackson is recognized as one of America's foremost political figures.
He has played a role in many movements for empowerment, peace,
civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice for more
than 30 years.
Jackson was bom Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, S.C. He graduated from
North Carolina A&T and attended Chicago Theological Seminary until
he joined the Civil Rights Movement in 1965.
Jackson started as a student leader in the sit-in movement and con
tinued as a organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
assisting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also directed Operation
Breadbasket and subsequently founded People United to Save
Humanity (PUSH) in Chicago in 1971.
Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition, a national social
justice organization devoted to political empowerment, education and
changing public policy in 1984. The two entities merged into the
Rainbow/F’USH Coalition in September 1996.
His 1984 presidential campaign won him 3.5 million votes and reg
istered more than 1 million new voters and helped the Democratic Party
regain control of the Senate in 1986. Jackson's 1988 presidential candi
dacy won 7 million votes and registered 2 million new voters.
He has visited thousands of high schools, colleges, universities, and
correctional facilities encouraging excellence, inspiring hope and chal
lenging young people to reward themselves with academic excellence
and to stay drug-free.
And
the
winner
is ...
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