by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
UNM student T.D. Gonzales said $600 is too much money to spend on textbooks if he cracks them open only twice a semester.
"Some professors require you buy textbooks, and then they tell you that you don't need them halfway in the semester," he said.
Gonzales was among about 200 other students who signed a petition on campus Wednesday calling on textbook publishers to lower prices.
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The petition was organized by the New Mexico Public Interest Research Group, a nonpartisan organization.
Brittany Whiting, student chapter vice president of the organization, said the goal for the semester is to get less expensive textbooks for students. She said the organization wants to arrange book swaps and work with the UNM Bookstore to get a book rental system running.
"It would be for people who can't afford textbooks or certain books," she said. "We want students to be able to come in and rent them for that semester."
Student Andrew Lutz said he would use a rental system because he rarely keeps textbooks.
"I usually sell the book back, and they don't pay me much to buy them back," he said.
Melanie Sparks, director of the UNM Bookstore, said she would be meeting with the organization next week to discuss a book rental system and other ways to make textbooks more affordable.
Sparks said a book rental system would be nice, but it would take cooperation from faculty, University departments and publishers.
"I think it's probably more complex than what meets the eyes," she said.
The bookstore does not have the money to buy all the textbooks upfront for students to rent, she said.
In order not to lose money with a rental system, University departments would have to pick the same textbooks for all the sections in a course, she said.
Felipe Gonzales, chairman of the Department of Sociology, said he would not support the rental system if all sections of a course had to have the same book.
"I don't see how that would work," he said. "Each instructor has his or her teaching style and selected texts that conform to the way they like to teach the course."
Otherwise, he said, the book rental system sounds great.
Katryn Fraher, student chapter president of NMPIRG, said UNM students spend an average of $400 per semester on textbooks, according to a survey conducted Wednesday by the organization.
Students would be spending about $120 a semester by renting books, because students would have to return the book at the end of the semester, she said.
Students would have to buy the book if they lose or damage it, she said.
"The damage we would be looking for would be missing pages, torn book binding or if the book is completely damaged," she said. "As for highlighting, that wouldn't be such a worry."
It would take about a year to organize a rental system, and a committee will have to be formed to address issues, she said.
Gonzales said he would like to see a rental system that would allow students to view the text on the Internet. He said it would be nice to see lower textbook prices, but it takes the support of faculty and staff.
"It doesn't start with lowering prices, it starts with professors being more conscious," he said, adding that professors should not assign textbooks if a student does not need one.
Sparks said the bookstore is committed to keeping the textbooks affordable for students, but publishers set the prices. She said the bookstore tries to buy an abundance of used books for students, which are 25 percent less than new books.
Whiting said the organization would like to get 2,000 signatures on the petition by the end of the semester to send to publishers.
In the meantime, Whiting said there would be more events during the semester to get community support, including an art project after Spring Break.
"We are going to have an art project with all the CD-ROMs and textbooks that aren't being used," she said. "We are going to take photos and send them to publishers to show them something productive."
