Academic Affairs Committee announced at its meeting Tuesday it is working to implement a new committee to promote affordable textbook solutions for students at the University of Wisconsin.
The Associated Students of Madison committee is proposing Shared Governance adopt a new standing committee titled the “Textbook Affordability Committee.” It would be instituted to address the issue of climbing textbook costs and to get students and faculty actively involved to help circumvent the rise in cost of books and course materials.
The committee would be active in researching issues regarding textbook affordability, networking with all involved in the textbook market –including but not limited to students, faculty and publishers — and executing changes to make class materials more affordable.
More than half of UW students polled by ASM in 2009 claimed to refrain from purchasing textbooks because of their high price.
When about half of the student body is refusing to pay for textbooks because of exorbitant costs associated with course materials, Academic Affairs Chair Jonah Zinn said, it limits the ability for students to succeed academically.
He said because the textbook market keeps changing, ASM needs a committee to address the ongoing problems that students face in purchasing course materials.
To implement the Textbook Affordability Committee, Zinn said the new committee would need support from students, faculty, administration and academic staff.
Zinn said there must be a push for support from students so the Faculty Senate will approve the committee, as it will be difficult to pass the committee through the Faculty Senate without student support.
Academic Affairs is looking to get faculty members to support the goals of the committee and wants faculty to get involved with its development and operations.
Zinn proposed Academic Affairs compose a petition for faculty members to sign to show their support. In turn, the petition would be brought to the Faculty Senate meeting to show the relevance of the affordable textbook cause.
According to Zinn, Faculty Senate worries it may not be wise making an investment in the committee because the leaders of the committee could graduate before the committee gains ground on campus and is effective.
Zinn says he wants the Textbook Affordability Committee to be open, so everyone in the UW community can attend and have speaking rights. However, the voting population would only consist of three students, three members of the academic staff and three faculty members.
The Textbook Affordability Committee will take effect as soon as it is approved and may even be activated by the end of the semester, he added.
In another effort to save money for students, Academic Affairs also discussed a financial aid initiative to conduct a workshop for students to get help filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Zach Ivins, intern for the Academic Affairs Committee, said there are limited financial aid funds available for students, so the FAFSA should be done early.
The event would be a two to three hour session in which a few faculty members would help students complete their FAFSA forms for next academic year.
The committee hopes to hold the event a couple weeks following spring break, in late April.
