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Regents hear about booze, textbooks

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Also by Carl Jaeger:

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New rules apply for UW seg fees (December 7, 2007)
Regents hear about booze, textbooks (December 7, 2007)

by Carl Jaeger

Friday, December 7, 2007

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will continue to e

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will continue to explore what can be done to maintain affordable textbook prices, as decided at their monthly meeting Thursday.

The Business, Finance and Audit Committee heard a report from Julie Gordon, the director of UW’s Office of Operations Review and Audit, on what is being done throughout the UW System to maintain affordable textbook prices.

Gordon cited a number of ways certain universities are keeping textbook prices down, including rental programs, library reserves and swap programs, and said "publishers have an influence on prices, but so do faculty, institutions and universities."

She said UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Milwaukee have all planned programs to provide more information for students on which textbooks will be used in each class.

Adam Porton, member of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, said one of the organization's "biggest pushes this year is textbooks," and suggested passing legislation requiring textbook companies to provide certain information.

A major issue, Horton said, is that publishing companies often do not provide the price of textbooks when professors decide which to use, and the first step is educating faculty.

"Faculty often don't know how much books will cost before they choose the books," Porton said. "Faculty don't have an incentive to necessarily look for the cheapest deal."

The committee decided textbook prices is an issue they would like to keep investigating and asked Gordon to report back to the committee in six months.

The regents also heard a presentation from UW-Madison researcher Junying Yu and managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Carl Gulbrandsen, on the recently announced stem cell discovery that found a way to convert regular cells into stem cells.

"I think that this research is advancing very quickly and that other places are doing this research as well," student Regent Colleene Thomas said. "We have a chance to stay on the cutting edge of this. We need to keep investing in it and keep supporting our scientists who are doing so much — and keep those professors here."

Regent Danae Davis, who chairs the board's education committee, said the discovery is "just a reflection of the power of this campus."

"For us to be groundbreaking in such a futuristic way is just phenomenal," Davis said.

There was also a presentation on the enrollment increase throughout the UW System.

Enrollment has increased 2.1 percent between 2006 and 2007, totaling 173, 313 students who enrolled in a UW System school this fall.

Davis said the increase was a "boost to the Growth Agenda" — a UW System plan to increase the state economy by increasing the number of college graduates.

"I think it's very positive that we're seeing the type of growth that we're seeing on most, if not all, of our campuses," Davis said.

The regents also discussed the change in a faculty sick leave policy, requiring them to report all missed days, which would preserve the benefits of all state employees in the future, Regent Thomas Loftus said.

"For faculty and staff, we value your service," Loftus said. "Preservation of sick days and the guarantee that health insurance will be there when you and your family need it is our goal."

The regents also heard a presentation on a drinking study that found binge drinking has decreased throughout UW System universities.

"I'm glad to see the numbers are down … but I do think that it's still way too much," Davis said.

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