Tuesday August 21, 2001 |

A small controversy has been sparked recently by the news that some professors in the English department require their students to go off campus to a private bookstore named Antigone for some of their required reading material. Antigone has built a reputation in town for specializing in gay and lesbian literature, which has set it apart from most bookstores in town.

Although there are certain virtues to UA professors requiring students to patronize off-campus bookstores, it would only take money out of the hands of student programs and organizations in the long run. Many professors have good reasons to order through bookstores like Antigone - including a desire to support local bookstores, the flexible ordering policies that those stores have and reliability. Students deserve choice, however, and professors who only order books through private bookstores limit the options of UA students.

Professors in the English department prefer Antigone bookstore not only for its ability to provide superior services, but because it's a private bookstore. This sentiment is noble and should not be overlooked. Large corporations such as Borders, Barnes & Noble and their subsidiaries have run small, privately-owned bookstores out of town. Antigone Bookstore, and others like it, should be celebrated as establishments that offer a unique product and style in a time when "McBookstores" flood the market with stores that sell the same things the same way.

Professors should be able to order books through private bookstores, and they should be able to stand up in class and recommend these bookstores for whatever reason they wish. But students should have the freedom not to patronize an establishment they don't wish to support.

The UA bookstore has often been referred to as a monopoly, and if it weren't for Rother's and the Arizona Bookstore, that would be a legitimate label. However, if it is a monopoly, it is the UA's monopoly. Profits from the UA bookstore are allocated by ASUA to fund student organizations and services. We need those funds, and we should not disregard the benefits of having a profitable and large university-affiliated bookstore provide them. However, the business Antigone takes from the UA bookstore would barely be noticed.

The ability of UA professors to order books from private bookstores should not be revoked, but if they do order books from a private bookstore, the same books should be available at the UA bookstore. Students, who are the ones that pay the exorbitant cost for these books, should at least be able to decide where their money is going to go.

Antigone has been in the spotlight of this particular debate because some students find themselves uncomfortable with the gay and lesbian subject matter of some of the material that is sold there. Their sensitivity to this subject matter should not be condemned - if a UA professor decided to order books through a Christian or right-wing bookstore, the outcry would be even louder.

Professors' unwavering adherence to a policy that requires that books ordered through private retailers also be ordered from the UA bookstore would not only give the students the choice of which organization they wish to patronize, but it also gives them the choice not to contribute to a business that sells sensitive subject matter that they may object to.

B y simply diverting their textbook orders, professors aren't making the situation any better - only worse.