By Kenney Kost/editor-in-chief
A NE student brought his concerns about rental and buy-back limitations on loose-leaf textbooks in front of the board of trustees April 17.
Jordan Talley said he first noticed the problem last semester when purchasing books.
“I was looking to rent books, and all I could find were the loose-leaf packages,” Talley said. “I brought them to the counter and was told that I could not rent the loose-leaf version, so I asked for a paperback or hard-cover copy and was told they no longer carried those versions.”
It wasn’t until Talley started to do more research on the subject this semester that he realized someone needed to speak up for the students.
“It struck me as something important to do,” he said. “I figured if I was going to approach the board, I didn’t want to be the lone whiny guy.”
Talley gathered 434 signatures on a petition in two days and brought it before the board.
“I sat in the lobby of the technology building [NTAB] from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday just getting signatures,” he said. “Students today are met with not only attending our classes but paying for classes in some cases, paying for supplies, fueling our vehicles, paying rent and other bills and holding full-time jobs alongside the full course load required by financial aid stipulations. And some of us, like myself, are parents, so any little bit helps, even if it is just $25 per book buy-back at the end of the semester.”
The move to loose-leaf textbooks is taking away affordable options for students, Talley said asking the board of trustees for a compromise.
“My proposal to you is to come up with a compromise or a better way to utilize these [loose-leaf textbooks] and have policies in place that will ensure better financially affordable options for students,” he said.
Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley told Talley it was the first she had heard of this situation and asked him to meet with her to discuss the issue. Talley quoted Hadley as saying she thought students have affordable options, yet he’s not sure.
“We don’t have the options she thinks we have,” he said.
The board of trustees also approved a $1.9 million contract with Ellucian to provide a 24-hour central help desk for technology support.
“The item before the board is probably one that will impact more people than any other project I’ve done,” said vice chancellor for information and technology Tim Marshall. “This will provide 24-by-7 live help desk support for our students, faculty and staff.”
TCC has weekday support now, Marshall said, but none for nights and weekends.
“We have students who take courses that extend into the night, and on weekends, we have teachers teaching those courses,” he said. “We need to have a good support structure in place for them.”
Ellucian was the successful vendor in the bidding process, Marshall said.
Board assistant secretary Conrad Heede expressed concern about staffing the project, especially during peak times such as the beginning and end of each semester and finals week.
“The company is providing us a service-level agreement based on time, and it’s up to them to hire more people during peak times,” he said. “They do the service for about 100 other colleges, and they do ramp up staff during those peak times.”
