University professors may be legally required to purchase less expensive textbooks, if a bill that was passed unanimously in the Pennsylvania state Senate fares as well in the House of Representatives.
The legislation would require universities in Pennsylvania to form committees within their respective schools to evaluate the educational soundness and price of textbooks, said Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Pa., who proposed the legislation.
Faculty members’ rights to choose whatever text they wanted would not be compromised, Dinniman said.
“The bill is just asking the faculty to take into consideration the price of the material before assigning text,” he said. “If a faculty member believes an expensive book is best, they still have the right to assign that.”
The bill will also ask something of textbook publishers: to provide professors with information on the exact changes in each new edition.
“We hope to create a culture where faculty members will give thought to the matter of cost,” he said. “We hope that this will assist in reducing the cost, but in no way do we force faculty to do anything.”
Penn State U. spokesman Geoff Rushton said that while the university has no official stance on the bill, if it passes, Penn State would want to ensure faculty rights are not compromised.
“You would want to balance faculty rights with affordability,” he said. “Affordability is a very serious issue, but you also have to respect faculty rights as far as picking the best books for classes goes.”
If the bill comes to fruition, John Lindo, store manager for the Student Book Store at Penn State, said it would have an impact on campus bookstores — even if students ended up purchasing fewer editions of each book.
The idea of a committee on textbooks at the university sounds “cumbersome,” he said.
And just because a book is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s high quality, Lindo said.
“[Students] come here to get a good education and we’d hate to see that compromised by using a book that wasn’t educationally sound,” he said.
But others are less skeptical.
Upon hearing about the legislation for the first time, University Park Undergraduate Association President Christian Ragland said he loves the idea.
“That’s a great idea to really try to find ways to lessen the cost of college,” he said.
A senior, Ragland said one of the first things the freshmen in his group talked about was the high cost of textbooks.
“They asked if the university tried to find the lowest textbook costs,” he said. “I didn’t have a direct answer for them.”
The legislation was unanimously passed through the Senate last week, and Dinniman, a college professor of 35 years at West Chester University, said he is “sure” it is going to pass in the House as well.