Disclaimer: Originally published on the St. Cloud State University campus paper, the University Chronicle on the Sept. 25 2009 issue. Written by Jun-Kai Teoh, Managing Online Editor.
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The first Student Government Association (SGA) Town Hall meeting discussed alternatives to the on-campus Husky Bookstore and its policies.
Hosted in the Mde’ Wakan room of the Atwood Memorial Center, Michael “Punch” Jamnick, President of SGA, had a discussion with Charles Ward, owner of the SCSU Bookstore and Textbook-1.
Ward was the provider of books to SCSU for 36 years.
Ward was concerned that students are often unaware of alternatives to the on-campus Husky Bookstore. He also mentioned that in can be difficult for outside providers to charge financial aid accounts.
“We see so many students bringing down new editions and brand new copies that they bought at buy back time where we know we had the book on the shelf the whole time,” Ward said. “And that’s costing the student 25 percent more right off the bat.”
Campus Book & Supply has also brought to Jamnick’s attention that getting the book list from the on-campus bookstore could help other stores stock up on appropriate books, both used and new.
Off-campus bookstores such as Campus Book & Supply as well as SCSU Bookstore obtain the book list from the Husky Bookstore for $50 per term.
Ward mentioned that the on-campus bookstore is relatively efficient and cooperative with providing the book list and other information.
Problems arise when there are verbal changes or e-mail changes to the required textbooks for classes that were not necessarily updated when the book list was released.
Professors that are hired near the beginning of a semester may decide to change the originally selected books can also cause confusion for the off-campus bookstores.
“That all boils down to academic freedom, which you’ll never take away from Minnesota professors,” Ward said.
He also mentioned that academic freedom is one of the factors book rentals are hard to implement into colleges.
With book rentals, an estimated six terms must pass before the cost of the book is covered.
If changes to the required text are made in less than that period bookstores offering book rentals will have to suffer a loss.
Another problem mentioned was the rules and regulations that restrict off-campus bookstores from advertising on campus.
Jamnick said that these are issues which he’ll look into and suggested that Ward could attend the next Town Hall Meeting on Sept. 23 to discuss his other concerns with the traffic and roundabout issues as well.
Jamnick said that the first Town Hall Meeting of the semester turned out exactly the way that he would have wanted it to be.
The purpose of having Town Hall Meeting is to bring up issues that he and the SGA may not be aware of.
Jamnick said he is more concerned about people bringing ideas and issues to his attention than the number of people attending the meeting.
He said he hopes that more people will attend the Sept. 23 meeting as the Mayor Kleis is expected to be present.
The next Town Hall Meeting will be from 11 a.m. to noon on Sept. 23 in the M’de Wakan room in the Atwood Memorial Center.
Students are welcome to attend the meeting and voice any concerns they may have.
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