The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 31, 1996 Page: 1 of 6
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lited by Weekend University 3
Mens' and womens' basketball coverage 4
VVeighters, skaters and couch potaters 5
High school students honored by Wesley an 6
* CSc
Chemistry student Ray Munn plays with fire. The
chemistry department recently received a $75,000
grant. See story, page 3.
f—"TEXAS WfcSLEYAT?
JAN 3 I 1996
January 31, 1996
Texas Wesleyan University
Fort Worth, Texas
r
Bookstore owner explains
higher text prices
By Kathy Walker
Staff writer t
Wesleyan students face a dilemma when
buying textbooks. If they are on a tight budget or
enjoy comparison shopping, they could learn that
books purchased outside the campus are often
priced lower-on the average, anywhere from ten
cents to five dollars less—than Wesleyan.
When asked how this is possible, Mike Gore,
owner of the Wesleyan bookstore for fourteen
years, responded that although this is generally
true, they do sell some books at lower prices than
outside bookstores.
Inventory costs of stocking all titles, the roy-
ally percentage paid to the university, and overall
operating expenses are all factors in determining
cost of books, he said. The Wesleyan bookstore
cannot be compared to outside discount book-
stores because they are different operations,
Gore said.
Most important in the overall evaluation is
' the net cost to the student, or the cost of the book
less the amount received on resale, according to
Gore. A lower upfront cost is not always the low-
est net cost, because Other stores may not offer a
high resale value.
If a student sells back a book purchased
new from Wesleyan. and it will be used again,
store policy is to pay 50 percent of the new book'
price, if it is returned within the specified time
limit and is not damaged.
If the book was purchased at used price and
is listed by the course's professor to be used
again, the student will still receive 50 percent of
the new book price.
When asked why books not used every
semester are not bought back at half the new
price, Gore said this situation arises with classes
that are taught only in the spring. Because the
bookstore orders from a furnished list, they have
no way of knowing to order the book until they
are notified by the course professor, he said.
According to Student Bookstore personnel,
their buy-back policy offers anywhere. from
wholesale up to 50 percent if the book is current
and can still be used. They will also buy back, at
wholesale price, books not purchased from them.
Humanities textbook Cultures and Values
sells for $52.20' new and $31.50 used at
Wesleyan. The same edition sells for $29.90
used at Student Bo.okstore. Religions of the
World costs' $38.80 new and $28.95 used at
Wesleyan and $23.90 used at Student Bookstore.
History textbook American People sells for
$53.45 new and $39.60 used at Wesleyan.
Student Bookstore offers it used for $38.90.
Macro Economy Today is $31 at Wesleyan and
$30.90 at Student Bookstore.
Some students experience higher differ-
ences in cost. Mia Barker, senior elementary
math major, said she saved $20 each on her sta-
tistics and math books when she purchased them
at Student Bookstore, as well as $7 each on two
other textbooks. She said she saved at least $100
on the purchase of her books. .
She also said she expected to receive a high
return price at Wesleyan since they advertise that
they will buy back any current book, regardless
of where it is purchased. Since Barker did not
purchase her textbooks from Wesleyan, she may
be surprised at their resale value.
According to Wesleyan bookstore person-
nel, the "hall' of new book" buy back price only
includes texts purchased from Wesleyan. Books
purchased from other bookstores will be bought
back at wholesale prices, they said.
According to Gore, if a book is purchased
from Wesleyan at the beginning of a semester, is
returned within one week and has not been writ-
ten in, full price will be refunded providing the
student has a receipt. If a studeni drops a course,
the buy back period is extended to two weeks and
full price is, refunded if the student presents a
drop slip.
A popular service provided by the Student
Bookstore, located on Grapevine Highway and
on California Parkway, is that they will place an
immediate telephone order for a book (with a $5.
nonreturnable deposit) have it available to the
student within approximately two days.
Bookstore employee, Gay Berkovsky, said
the deposit covers their cost in case the student
fails to pick up the book. She said this has helped
many Wesleyan students who were unable to
obtain a textbook at the Wesleyan bookstore
because of high pricing or because of unavail-
ability, such as when orders have not arrived by
the time school begins, she said.
One second semester non-traditional student
was able to obtain her Spanish text through them
when Wesleyan had not reordered because most
students still had their books from the first
semester, she said.
rr
Photo by Khampha Bouaphanh
Senior business major Derrick May gets the bill for his textbooks at the Wesleyan bookstore.
Gore said
Wesleyan stu-
dents are wel-
come to
a p p r o a c h
bookstore per-
sonnel and ask
them to make
an order (no
deposit
required) to
the same sup-
plier and
obtain, if pos-
sible, any
needed book.
Also, if only
new books are
on the
Wesleyan
shelves, a student can request that personnel
order a used book on the spot, he said. Often
books will be available at the time a student is
buying, when they may not have been available
when bookstore orders were placed. The book-
store gives top priority to the purchase of used
books, Gore said.
• The Wesleyan bookstore is under contract to
sell at less than the suggested publisher's list
price, and they are able to reduce costs when they
have large quantities, he said.
In the . Sept. 27 edition of The Rambler, .it
was. noted that last year's humanities textbooks
had faulty binding, which caused the pages to fall
out. Gore said he contacted faculty about the
faulty bindings, and the publisher offered anoth-
er book. However, because of the time involved
to reorder, faculty declined the offer and the
books were sold to students.
Gore also said the bookstore forced the pub-
lisher to lower the price of the books.
Gore said students are the bookstore's num-
ber one priority. If students have a problem, he
said he is available to work with them in any way
to resolve that problem. "We are a business. The
university makes more money than they would if
they ran their own store. We absorb all opera-
tional costs, and we employ Students," Gore said.
Each semester the bookstore gives to stu-
dents seven to eight complete sets of textbooks,
he said.
Brown divides dean's
duties with Provost
By Tekisha Slack
Staff writer
Walk into Joe Brown's office
and you might see an array of cas-
tles, kaleidoscopes, statues, masks
and an extensive collection of the-
atci books The former dean of fine
arts is. to many, an interesting man
with interesting tastes
Brown resigned as dean at the
beginning of last semester. He is
still chair of the theater arts depart-
ment and is still involved with the
fine arts department as a whole,
friends and co-wtarkers said.
But the show must go on. and
in the meantime the dean's duties
aire being divided between Dr.
Steve Simons, chair of the music
department, art professor Mary
Apple and Kit Hall, art professor,
Provost Tom Armstrong is also
on taking on some responsibilities
of the dean Armstrong said a deci-
sion hasn't been made on who will
take Brown's place, but said an
extensive search will be conducted
to fill the position.
Brown said he wanted to get
back to his first love—theater.
"When he bacame dean, he
didn't have the luxury (of spending
time with the students)," said
Charles Statham. a student produc-
tion assistant for the fine arts
department "Before he was dean
he had a certain rapport with the
students, but w hen he became dean
he didn't have time."
Brown received his bachelor
of arts degree at the University of
Arkansas and his masters in fine
arts from Southern Methodist
University. He is also affiliated
with local theater programs such as
Shakespeare in the Park.
Brown has been known to
spend an enormous amount of time
helping to put on fine arts students'
productions, even while he was
dean,
Photo h> Khampha Bouaphanh
The Baker-Martin house, which will become a campus wel-
come center, is being moved to the campus in sections.
Changes in store for
Stella Russell Hall
By Fransisca M. Quinlanar
Staff writer
Since 1967, Stella Russell
Hall has housed students. The
dorm is beginning to show its age.
One of the' major concerns affect-
ing Stella is the plumbing.
"From what I understand,
there are'some problems with the
pipes, particularly with the hot
water. They've become clogged
from use over the years," said
Kelly Spell, coordinator of resi-
dential living. "They (Stella
Residents) have hot water right
now, but we're not sure how long
it can last."
Dave Voskuil, vice president
of advancement and student
enrollment, said he has been gath-
ering information to present to the
senior staff concerning Stella and
options for its future.
"Stella, 1 think, is at a point
now where it needs some signifi-
cant work for it to survive as a res-
idence hall," he said. "Rather than
investing a lot of dollars in some-
thing that, maybe, isn't the kind of
residence hall students want to
live in, we want to look at some
other options."
One option is to downsize res-
idential living and eliminate
Stella, though this option is not
one Wesleyan hopes to pursue,
according to Voskuil.
"We're more interested in
building residential living," said
Voskuil.
Another option is to renovate
Stella into office space or addi-
tional classrooms.
"I think Stella has a lot of
qualities that are conducive to
office space and , classrooms
because it is so conveniently locat-
ed," said Voskuil.
In addition, development
plans for privatized housing (simi-
lar to apartments) are among the
options being considered. Century
Development is evaluating the
campus and presenting Wesleyan
with information on privatized
housing.
"The types of residence halls
they've been mostly developing
are of an apartment complex type
approach," said Voskuil. "Based
on the information I have received
in talking with students, that type
of housing is appealing to them."
Century has developed apart-
ment type complexes on campuses
such as Abilene Christian
University, Oklahoma City
University, Texas Southern
University, and Houston Baptist.
Century is scheduled to return
in two weeks to present specifics
on such a project to the senior
staff.
So far, these ideas are only
options and no firm decisions have
been made as to the conditions of
Stella and how much longer it can
remain in its present condition,
"We know we have to do
something because we want to
enhance the quality of residential
life on this campus for our stu-
dents, "said Voskuil.
Schrum focuses on positive changes
By Kelli Parker
Features editor
Humanity was president Jake Schrum's.main focus during the universi-
ty convocation lan. 16.
Schrum shared sev eral stones with the audience of faculty and staff that
he said demonstrated some of the things that are what make Texas Wesleyan
the wonderful school he believ es it to be. He encouraged people to focus on
the positive things that have take place recently the prov isional accredita-
tion of the law school, the increase of enrollment (which has nearly doubled
since I991)'and the fact that the university is operating on a balanced bud-
get for the first time in 20 years
Schrum then turned attention once again toward the personal side of
Wesleyan. He said the main phrase he would use to describe the school is
"an opportunistic place, but with a moral comperative."
Despite a release in Wesleyan Weekly stating that the convocation would
center around the university facilities master plan, this plan for the future
was not detailed. A statement from the president's office said that Schrum
changed the agenda late.
Schrum did announce, however, that the school is hiring a fund-raising
Consultant to conduct a money-raising campaign. A list of priorities is
scheduled to be completed by the April board meeting, in order for the board
to vote on a fund-raising campaign at that time.
An example of the humanity Schrum spoke of was the award given to
Dr. Ron McManus. professor of religion, for'exemplary teaching from the
board and ministry of the United Methodist Church.
m-
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Wood, Allison E. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, January 31, 1996, newspaper, January 31, 1996; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth287652/m1/1/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.