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Texas A&M
The Battalion
Wednesday, November
1988
College Station, Texas
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By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
Texas A&M’s Office of Public In-
lirmation released the names of the
iIk i idisi B' ur candidates interviewed during
ooerator of 1^^ s P res *cl ent i a l search this sum-
ler.
James C. Miller, director of the
Iffice of Management and Budget
Washington D.C.; James Howell,
nior vice president of the First Na-
[onal Bank of Boston, and James
eindl, senior vice president for
ademic affairs and Provost for
ensselaer Polytechnic Institute
|ere interviewed in New York in
tejune. Former executive deputy
tancellor William Mobley was in-
rviewed a week later. Mobley was
anted president July 18.
o have a group
ial district in i!
v said.
incident,
een trying to bui
never able to t
The Board released a list of 57
ndidates updated monthly during
ie summer, but more than 25 per
cent of those listed told The Battal
ion they were not actively pursuing
the position.
Two candidates told The Battal
ion they were not aware they had
been nominated for the position, al
though their names appeared on
lists dating back to March 31. Mob
ley, Meindl and Howell all referred
questions on the matter to the
Board, but Bill Presnal, executive
secretary of the Board, said no in
structions were given to the intervie
wees. Miller was not available for
comment.
The Battalion repeatedly re
quested lists of candidates inter
viewed, but Presnal and James
Bond, deputy chancellor for legal
and external affairs, said the infor
mation was exempted under Texas
Open Records Act.
The law states that the entity with
the requested information has 10
days to respond to written requests,
either to approve the request, deny
the request or ask for a new opinion.
If the information is denied, a pre
vious Attorney General’s opinion is
to be cited as the reason, or a new
opinion is to be requested within 10
days. If the request is agreed to, the
information must be surrendered
within 10 days. After 10 days, all in
formation is considered open.
The Battalion ran a story based on
anonymous sources July 15 that said
Mobley would be the new president.
During the following weekend, the
Eagle confirmed these reports with
two Regents.
The Battalion and the Eagle re
quested a list of candidates inter
viewed for the position after Mobley
was appointed. Bond requested an
Attorney General’s opinion on
whether the candidates’ names could
be withheld under exemptions of
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By Scot O. Walker
Angelina Nationii Staff Writer
vas marked wifl j t j s not uncommon to hear a stu-
i ie pit )Ik toresu^ ent sa y t h at t j ie p rocesss 0 f buying
d selling textbooks is a conspiracy
ong professors, publishers and
tailers to rip off students. But the
[ublishers, local bookstore man-
;ers and Texas A&M professors
y that perception is completely
Iin,
^ kJ | Lawrence E.. Cremer, former
esident of William C. Brown Col-
Publishing Division, said that
ublishers should not be made out
villains because of the increase in
ew book prices.
According to a National Associa-
on of College Stores comparative
ricing study of 30 basic texts in use
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in 1965 and still in use in 1985, the
average cost of a new text has risen
from $7.93 to $28.27, an increase of
365 percent. But Cremer said that
those numbers don’t tell the whole
story.
“Figures don’t lie, and the infor
mation (the 365 percent price in
crease) is absolutely true,” Cremer
said. But he listed several reasons
that he said helped to explain the
price increase.
“Just 10 years ago, an average in
troductory text was 400-700 pages,
revised every four to five years, and
made minimal use of color,” Cremer
said. “Printing costs were cheaper, il
lustrations were simple and the free
instructor’s manual was usually
around 50 pages.”
He said that in comparison, the
average text is now 700-1,200 pages
and is revised every three years.
“There are also more full-color il
lustrations, and the quality of the il
lustrations are better,” he said. “The
free instructor’s manual usually runs
to 200 pages, and the publishers
usually include a free lecture kit with
suggestions for lectures, acetate
(overhead) reproductions of selected
concepts and computerized testing
services.”
Cremer said that those facts indi
cate that today’s books are better and
that the array of free extras is sub
stantial.
“But what is ‘free’? ” Cremer said.
“When publishers provide an item
free (to an instructor) it should say,
‘Free thanks to the students or their
parents.’ ”
Cremer said that several other in
tangible factors add to the value of a
text. He said that the author spends
years planning and writing, then the
publisher works with the author
throughout a lengthy developmental
mala
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ertise an washed up
Photo by Kathy Ha veman
Charles McCaleb, senior geography major, stead- Andy Townend, senior civil engineering major. It
ies a fire hose aimed at the bonfire with the help of is being wettened in preparation for lighting.
period using the collective talents of
many professionals.
“And then there is the money in
vested and risked, which for an in
troductory textbook can exceed
$500,000 before printing even be
gins,” Cremer said.
Dr. Larry Christensen, professor
of psychology and author of two
textbooks, said that the benefits to
an instructor for writing a textbook
are not as great as some might think.
“From beginning to end, writing a
book can be a three- to five-year pro
cess,” Christensen said. “But writing
a textbook is not viewed among the
academic community as a scholarly
activity like research is.”
Christensen said that he decided
to write his first book, Experimental
Methodology, because he saw a void
in the market of available texts. Be
cause that work was well-received,
his publisher asked him to write an
other book, Introduction to Statistics
for the Social and Behavioral Sci
ences.
He said that the monetary reward
for writing a text is not always great.
“The standard royalty is usually
around 8 to 15 percent,” he said,
“but you don’t write textbooks to
make a fortune.”
John Raney, manager of the
Texas Aggie Bookstore in North-
gate, said that his store charges the
customer 25 percent more than it
pays for books from the publisher.
He said that a 25 percent markup is
average compared to what other
area stores charge for books and
how other products are marked up.
According to MacWorld Mag
azine, an Apple Macintosh SE com
puter is marked up 300 percent
when Apple sells it to a dealer, and
the dealer usually adds an average of
45 percent to make the retail price.
Based on the average markup on
books in context of marketing, Ra
ney said, a 25 percent increase on
textbooks is not unreasonable.
“We have to hope that 25 percent
is going to cover all of our overhead
and then leave us a little margin of
profit,” Raney said.
Rosalyn Mauk, textbook manager
of the Texas A&M Bookstore in the
MSC, said that the store marks up
used books by 50 percent, but that
used books are still a good deal for
students.
“As long as a used book is in good
condition, we pay the student 50
percent of the new book price,”
Mauk said. “So the student might
pay $20 for a new book, use it and
then sell it back to us for $10. After
the 50 percent markup, we sell it for
$15, so that is a good deal for us, for
the student selling the used book
and the student who buys it.”
Raney said that Texas Aggie
Bookstore doesn’t necessarily pay 50
percent of the new book value when
buying a used book.
“There are a lot of factors to con
sider when we decide what a book is
worth to us,” Raney said. He cited
the age and condition of this book, its
wholesale value, and the number of
books needed for the next semester
compared with the number the store
already has on hand as variables that
influence the price he is willing to
pay for a used book.
Mauk said that some students
make the mistake of waiting until af
ter Christmas or until the beginning
of a new semester to sell their text
books.
“By that time, we probably have
all the books we need for that semes
ter, so the student can get stuck
holding a book they want to sell but
can’t,” she said.
Pages
the Texas Open Meetings Act. The
Attorney General’s office sent a let
ter opinion dated Sept. 27 stating
that the exemption did not apply.
Presnal said his office received the
opinion letter from Bond’s office
Thursday and received approval to
release the vitae of the four intervie
wees Sunday from Board Vice
Chairman Joe Reynolds.
Presnal said the candidates inter
viewed do not comprise a list of fi
nalists. He said a list of finalists
would have included more people,
but would not say how many or who.
He said it is increasingly difficult
to find quality candidates during
searches when nominees are made
public.
“It’s a bad policy to have the peo
ple you interview made public be
cause you won’t have some of the
best qualified people interview be
cause they’re not willing to take the
risk,” he said.
’ublishers, bookstore managers
>ay students aren’t getting burned
Proposal to end
loan program
draws heavy fire
HOUSTON (AP) — Higher
education officials are preparing
to fight a state commission’s staff
recommendation to abolish a stu
dent loan program that has
helped more than 160,000 needy
Texans go to college.
The Texas Sunset Advisory
Commission staff has recom
mended that the Hinson-Hazle-
wood loan program be shut down
and its multimillion dollar assets
be sold, the Houston Chronicle
reported Tuesday.
A hearing on the proposal is
scheduled for Friday in Austin.
A staff report recently released
by the Sunset commission, the
state’s oversight agency, suggests
that the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board close out its
student financial aid activities and
that lending powers be handed
over to the Texas Guaranteed
Student Loan Corp.
The Hinson-Hazlewood pro
gram issues up to $25 million in
federally guaranteed student
loans yearly to Texas college stu
dents. It was named for the late
state Rep. George Hinson and
former state Sen. Grady Hazle-
wood, who sponsored the legis
lation that created the program in
1965.
It was originally financed by
selling $205 million in bonds dur
ing the 1960s and 1970s but now
relies on loan repayments and
federal allowances to make new
loans.
The recommendation to abol
ish it is drawing heavy fire from
financial aid administrators, who
charge that the state should be
doing more — not less — to en
courage students to go to college.
The one-time profit the state
would gain from liquidating the
loan program, administrators
contend, would come at the ex
pense of future generations of
Texas college students. Accord
ing to the report, the state loan
portfolio could be worth $102
million if sold by competitive bid.
Some college officials also said
it would be inappropriate to give
lending authority to the TGSLC,
the non-profit entity that guar
antees most student loans.
The TGSLC is one of 58 agen
cies across the country that insure
student loans made by private
lenders. In turn, the federal gov
ernment reinsures the loans
backed by the guarantee agen
cies. Some officials involved in
student loan programs argue that
guarantors should not be lenders
because there is a potential con
flict of interest.
“Student loan programs
should be operated in a carefully
controlled environment,” Carol
McDonald, executive director of
Independent Colleges and Uni
versities of Texas, said.
McDonald said the TGSLC is
not a state agency and does not
function under the extraordinary
oversight that the coordinating
^oard does.
College financial aid adminis
trators praise the Hinson-Hazle
wood program, saying it offers
students certain advantages over
guaranteed student loans from a
private lender.
The state’s 7 percent interest
rate, compared to 8 percent from
a private lender that increases to
10 percent four years after repay
ment begins, is one advantage.
U.S. called upon
to make next move
for Mideast peace
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — PLO
chief Yasser Arafat said Tuesday it
was up to the United States to make
the next move toward Middle East
peace now that the Palestinians have
formed an independent state that
implicitly recognizes Israel.
“The ball is now in the American
court,” Arafat said a few hours after
the Palestine National Council, the
PLO’s parliament-in-exile, solemnly
proclaimed Palestinian indepen
dence in a ceremony early Tuesday.
The declaration accepted U.N.
Security Council Resolution 242,
which implicitly recognizes Israel
when it refers to the right of all
countries in the region to live within
secure and recognized borders.
The proclamation topped the list
of issues taken up during the coun
cil’s four-day special session in Alge
ria, which ended Tuesday. The 450-
member council also voted to form a
provisional government at a future
date and pledged to restrict guerrilla
operations to military targets in Is
raeli-occupied territories.
The council’s move, largely sym
bolic and clearly aimed at capitaliz
ing on the 11-month-old Palestinian
uprising in Israeli-occupied lands,
sought to remove obstacles to U.S.
and Israeli dealings with the Pales
tine Liberation Organization.
Referring to the intefadeh, or
uprising, Arafat told a news confer
ence: “It is true that this is the intefa
deh session of the (council), but it
also could be the session of peace
with the U.S. administration and Is
rael.”
The PLO chief said the council
had given him a mandate to pursue
a political settlement. “But if we are
met with a rebuff,” he said, “only
God knows the outcome.”
“Let it also be clear, I can always
come back to our (council) and de
clare that moderation does not pay,”
Arafat said.
Israel immediately rejected Ar
afat’s declaration, calling it “double
talk” and denying that it recognized
Israel or truly renounced terrorism.
“They mentioned rejection of ter
rorism outside Israel, but they did
not denounce terrorism inside Is
rael,” Foreign Ministry spokesman
Alon Liel said. “So we still see the
PLO as a terror organization, and
the government decision not to ne
gotiate with the PLO stands.”
Washington also rejected the
move, saying that the Middle East
conflict had to be resolved by nego
tiations, not a unilateral act on either
side.
The United States has demanded
the PLO recognize Israel and re
nounce terrorism before there could
be any dealings.
The declaration did not specif
ically describe the new state’s bor
ders.
Commuter jet
almost hits
Air Force One
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal
investigators on Tuesday called for
an immediate review of air traffic
control procedures in the Northeast
after finding that a string of errors
allowed a commuter plane to fly
alarmingly close to Air Force One
last month.
The incident, which had been re
ported previously without detail, oc
curred Oct. 12 when Air Force One
with President Reagan aboard and a
Bar Harbor Airlines commuter
plane flew within 500 feet vertically
and 1.5 miles horizontally as both
planes were preparing to descend to
Newark, NJ.
Standard separation for aircraft is
1,000 feet vertically and five miles
horizontally. At the time of the inci
dent, White House officials said the
president was never in danger.
But the incident prompted a
broad investigation by the National
Transportation Safety Board which
said Tuesday that numerous man
agerial, operational and training de
ficiencies at four Federal Aviation
Administration facilities near Wash
ington, at Philadelphia and near
New York were at fault.
These errors reflected a serious
lack of effective management and
quality assurance, the NTSB said. It
called on the FA A to conduct an in
dependent investigation of air traffic
control performance at the facilities
involved similar to a probe recently
concluded after a series of controller
errors at Chicago.
The board also said it was partic
ularly concerned about its findings
because the FAA on a number of oc
casions dating back to 1986 had in
vestigated similar shortcomings at
the facilities and indicated im
provements had been made.