Volume XCI Number 34
trojan
University of Southern California
Wednesday March 3, 1982
PART-TIME STAFF CUT
Cutbacks hurt park centers
By Eric Vicent
Staff Writer
A decrease in staff members due to budget cutbacks is threatening the closure of local park department centers, leaving neighborhood youths without recreational outlets.
The cutbacks have left three area centers with only one staff member.
“We lost our w’hole part-time assistant budget, and are expecting it to get worse," said Bruce Cowan. Central District supervisor.
There are six recreational centers within five miles of the university, all of which have suffered staff reductions. Three of these centers have one full-time staff member, while the other three consist of a director and a recreation leader.
However. Cowan. predicted further cutbacks. "The least that is going to happen is one person per center," he said.
Cutbacks in personnel mean fewer hours that the centers may operate. For Cowan, this represents a clear danger of increasing crime problems.
“There is no question that cutbacks in the centers' hours will create greater crime problems," Cowan said.
“These kids are moving away from the center and finding other things to do. You can be sure that not all of these things will be good," Cowan said.
There has been no apparent increase in youth crimes near the university since the cutbacks began, said Carol Steele of University Security.
The budget cutbacks are creating other problems for the centers. “It is now more difficult to set up special programs; since many of the lost employees were specialists in a particular area,” said Liz Powell, director of the Exposition Park Recreational Center. t Continued on page 5)
APPROVAL DELAYED
Change in grade policy unsettled
By Mark Ordesky
Staff Writer
Staff photo by Alexis Ignatieff
WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS — Exposition Boulevard takes on a new look when viewed from a train's eye view.
A university commission approved Tuesday three parts of a Student Senate plan w'hich calls for revisions of the new plus/minus grading system, but delayed approval of what senators called the most important part of their four-part proposal.
The Academic Standard Commission rejected the senators' request to make the optional grading system marfaatorv. The senators had asked that the commission empower the Student Appeals Panel to enforce the mandatory use of the plus/minus system.
The fate of the proposal remains in the air because the commission neither rejected nor approved the senate's plan.
The senate has said for several weeks that the optional use of the plus/minus system is unfair to students.
The senate proposal explained why the senators believe the Student Appeals Panel could be used to monitor use of the system.
“This panel is currently the only mechanism w'ith the powTer to act on a student’s grade, and the only place where students can reasonably petition to have plus/minus included if the teacher has neglected to use the system,” the proposal states. "They (the Student Appeals Panel) could be instrumental in making the new system a fair and effective one.”
The senate presented its proposal to the commission at its Feb. 11 meeting. Following that meeting, Peyton Fisher, chairman of the senate’s Academic Affairs Committee, brought the proposal to Cornelius Pings, senior vice president of Academic Affairs.
Pings appproved the plan, Fisher said, but sent it back to the commission for further discussion
(Continued on page 7)
CHEATS PUBLISHER, AUTHOR, STUDENTS
Professors selling sample textbooks; is it ethical?
By Brenda Wong
Staff Writer
To some professors it is merely a way to get rid of the many free sample textbooks they receive from publishers each year. To some professors and publishers, however, it is an unethical practice that cheats the publisher, author and student. It is a problem they hope to curtail in coming years.
The problem is the practice of professors selling their free samples to wholesale dealers, who in turn sell them to college bookstores at a lower price than publishers w'ould.
Professors, especially those who teach larger classes such as introductory psychology' or freshmen writing, often receive free textbooks from publishers who hope they wrill use the book in their classes.
As a result, many professors are deluged with texts. To dispose of the excess books, they sell them to wholesale dealers.
“It’s a tremendously widespread practice,” said Harold Parnes, president of Wadsworth Publishing Co.. in a telephone interview Monday.
Howard Aksen. vice president and general manager of the college division for Harper & Row. agreed.
“The practice has increased substantially in the last three years.” Aksen said. “More professors are selling them (the books) than used to.”
Parnes contrasted the present situation to the one of 20 years ago. In
the '60s, professors who sold their free textbooks to wholesale dealers were frowned on by their colleagues, Parnes said. Today, those who do not sell their books are looked upon as foolish.
“It’s an opposite practice from what it was 20 years ago,” Parnes said. “The whole ;aler makes it very easy and gives them (the professors) a very rational reason to sell their books.”
When wholesalers attempt to persuade the professors to sell their books, they often remind the professors that because the books were un-
solicited, there is no obligation to keep them.
“(They are) books you don't ask for. There’s no moral commitment for you to keep the books,” Parnes said.
Only the wholesaler, the professor and the bookstore which buys the resold textbook will profit from this practice, Parnes and Aksen said. “The bookstore has the opportunity to mark it up for a higher price. The wholesaler is making all the money and paying very little expenses." Aksen said.
Parnes said the practice is not fair to the other three parties involved in the college textbook business; the publisher, author and student. The publisher loses much of his investment in the book, the author loses royalties and the students ultimately must pay higher prices for their texts, he said.
As an example, Parnes described what happens when a single publisher sends out 4.000 to 6,000 complimentary textbooks to professors.
“If a sizable number of copies are circulated to the wholesalers, or if they find a way back into the market.
they are substituting the place the other copies would have taken.” Parnes said.
Because it costs more to print complimentary textbooks than it does to print in bulk, publishers have to make up for that loss by increasing the price of the new books, Aksen said.
“The more books the publisher prints.” Aksen said, “the less expensive the unit cost is. The publishers are going to have to make up the difference. The people who buy the
new books (are those) who will have to pay more.”
Parnes said, “It’s a complete, unproductive waste. The effect is very' definitely related to the increase of costs of books.”
In an effort to curb this practice, Aksen said. Harper & Row is experimenting sending out unbound complimentary copies. A desk copy is sent out only if the professor orders the textbook for his class.
Wadsw'orth has a more direct approach. It sends literature to professors asking them not to sell to wholesale dealers, cajoles and pleads with its sales representatives to try to prevent the practice and stamps book covers with a notice saying the text is not for resale. Parnes said.
The Association of American Publishers also is involved in trying to put a halt to the practice. It publishes a brochure listing five ethical points to ponder when professors are considering selling a sample book to wholesale dealers.
The five questions ask whether the practice is fair to authors, students, the instructor's profession, the school or the publishers.
In direct contrast to what the two publishers said, Cari Brock, a mail correspondent to eight sales representatives for McGraw-Hill Book Publishing Co., said the instances of professors selling their complimentary textbooks are rare.
“I would think it's done very little.
(Continued on page 3)
Professors, especially those who teach larger classes such as introductory psychology or freshmen writing, often receive free textbooks from publishers who hope they will use the book in their classes.