UA text mandate questioned by prof, ASU bookstore

"It's not as strict as the U of A," said Rob Meyers, text area supervisor at the ASU bookstore. "It's kind of a different political atmosphere here."

The politicking on the University of Arizona campus began when Rep. Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, heard students' complaints about having to go off-campus for books.

The UA provost's office handed down a revised policy March 26 that requires instructors to provide a list of all books required for the course to the UA Associated Students Bookstore.

In a memo to directors and department heads, Social and Behavioral Sciences College dean Holly Smith offered a warning to instructors, calling use of the ASUA Bookstore a "firm part of UA policy."

"Violation of this policy has recently led a legislator to threaten to eliminate funding of a department in which this violation was thought to have occurred," Smith wrote. "Let me advise you not to attract this kind of attention."

Laura Tabili, a UA associate history professor, alleged departments have been threatened with budget cuts to enforce the policy.

"Retaliation is being implicitly and explicitly threatened," she said. "This may be the excuse legislators are looking for to cut our budget. There is a general fear of retaliation by the Legislature."

The UA's textbook ordering policy, issued by interim UA Provost Michael Gottfredson, has also been under fire for favoring the university more than local, small businesses.

The Arizona Revised Statute states that "universities...shall not...provide to students, faculty, staff, or invited guests goods that are practically available from private enterprise."

While Gottfredson refused comment on the policy's legalities, UA attorney David Nix said the plan is legal because instructors are only required to present booklists to the ASUA Bookstore. Students may purchase their texts at any bookseller.

Gray agreed, saying the policy "doesn't say only the university can sell the books."

"It's good for competition on lowering prices for students," she said.

Arizona Board of Regents President Judy Gignac said the policy aims to help students.

"(Without the policy) students would have to run around from bookstore to bookstore and I don't think that's fair," Gignac said. "It's only fair to the students."

Trudy Mills, co-owner of Antigone Books, 411 N. Park Ave., disputed the university's application of the statute.

"Our question is why they're interpreting textbooks differently from packets," she said. "They apply that law differently for different reasons."

In a legal opinion for Antigone Books, private attorney Pamela Liberty argued that handouts are routinely reproduced through private copy centers to the exclusion of the campus bookstore.

"This practice...seems to directly contradict both the cited regulation and the stance that (the) provost...has taken with respect to Antigone Books," Liberty wrote.