How Textbook Publishers Manipulate Costs for Students

I remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the prices for my university textbooks. Textbooks are one of the most frustrating expenses for an undergraduate student. According to the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM), from 1997-2005, textbook prices have increased approximately by 280%. Over the same period, the Canadian Price Index (CPI) has only increased by 22%. Annette Bright, the manager of the University of Lethbridge Book Store, says that the average full time student should budget around $2000 for textbooks for each academic year. This represents more than 12% of tuition for a sizable portion of the student body.

Many students blame campus bookstores for these high costs but a more appropriate body to criticize would be the textbook publishers/distributors.

The market for textbooks for undergraduate students is very unique when compared to most traditional markets. The individuals that are responsible for deciding what textbooks are used for a course (the instructors) are not the same individuals that are paying for them. For many professors, content and quality are the main deciding factors for deciding what textbooks should be used for a class. While content and quality are important factors, this means that textbook publishers are under less pressure to keep textbook prices low.

Another factor that is driving up the cost of textbooks is the high frequency of new editions. Over the past decade the frequency of new editions for textbooks has increased significantly. According to Bright, it is now customary for a textbook publisher to issue a new edition approximately every two years. This is typically the industry standard regardless of how much change has occurred in the subject matter since the previous edition.  According to Jim Corven, a professor from Bristol Community College, “while updates are useful and necessary, the real differences from edition to edition are often insignificant and do not justify the publication of an expensive new edition”.

The inflow of new editions of textbooks also hurts the used textbook market. A new edition of a textbook may result in students being unable to resell a recently purchased textbook. The shorter shelf life of textbooks results in a lessened opportunity to sell a textbook. For many students, the used textbook market is the most functional medium of accessing lower cost academic materials.

Another item that is contributing to the high costs of textbooks is the increased practice of bundling. Bundling is the practice of shrink-wrapping additional materials such as CDs, study guides, activation codes for websites and foldouts with textbooks. This practice results in an increased price for the textbooks. The main issue with bundling is that instructors rarely include bundled materials in their curriculum. According to the State PIRG study, only 24% of instructors estimate that they “always” or “usually” use the additional bundled materials.

The high cost of textbooks for Canadian post-secondary students is also heavily influenced by Canadian importation regulations. In 1999, the federal government implemented importation regulations in the Canadian Copyright Act in an attempt to protect the Canadian publishing industry. This regulation requires Canadian bookstores to purchase from Canadian distributors as long as the distributor is selling within 10 percent of the American price or 15 percent of the international price. This allows Canadian publishers to sell their products above market price and pass the increased costs on to students. The proceeds from the imported mark-up go directly to the textbook publishers and not to the authors of the text. Also, the American branch for many book distributors will not do business with Canadian bookstores because of internal agreements with the Canadian branch of the organization.

The actions of textbook publishers have caused several groups to react.  In 2008, the Canadian Roundtable on Academic Materials (CRAM), a group comprising of several student associations/unions and campus bookstores, was formed to create a national dialogue on academic materials. In addition to this, several organizations such as the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), Campus Stores Canada, the Canadian Booksellers Associations and CRAM have lobbied to the federal government about issues relating to academic materials.

While the textbook industry may be inherently flawed, there are many things that students can do to reduce their expenses.

• Buy used textbooks- Used textbooks are noticeably cheaper than their unused counterparts. Sometimes they even have helpful highlighted portions.
• Talk to your instructor- Before you purchase a textbook you should always ask your instructor if the textbook is necessary and if you can use an older edition.
• Look at bulletin boards- The hallways are usually filled with flyers from students trying to sell textbooks. You can end up getting a good deal and help out a fellow student at the same time.
• Ask friends- A really easy way to save some money is to borrow or buy books from friends who have taken the class already.
• Share a textbook- If you have a friend in the same class you can possibly consider this option.  The main downside to this is organizing when each of you gets the textbook.
• See if the library has a reserve copy- In some instances, the library will have a reserve copy of the text on hand.
• Visit local used book stores- If you are purchasing literature, a good option would be to visit local used book stores.  If it’s a fairly common text (e.g. Hamlet) it should be fairly cheap and easy to find.
• www.thothle.ca – This is a free web service that searches through several online bookstores to find the best possible deals. The main issue with purchasing online would be waiting for the text to ship.
• eBooks- eBooks are becoming a more viable textbook medium. They are paperless and typically cheaper than physical copies. The only downside is that some are sold on a subscription basis.
• Online Databases- Free online databases in recent years have become a more viable option for students. Some really good databases are Bibliomania, the Guttenberg Project, Open Courseware Consortium and Connexions.

ULSU Website Evaluation

The University of Lethbridge Students’ Union is currently conducting an evaluation of its website (http://ulsu.ca/) and we would like to get your opinion on the matter. The ULSU has put together a survey aimed at collecting the opinions and satisfaction levels of its users to do this. This survey will ask you to rate your level of satisfaction on a number of questions, covering all the major areas of the ULSU website. The survey is anonymous so feel fee to write whatever your personal assessment of the website is. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bWYP1obGPQ50JFJ_2brqaT7A_3d_3d

Federal lobbying with CASA

For those of you that don’t know, one of the primary mandates of the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union (ULSU) is to advocate for students on a municipal, provincial and federal level. The ULSU fulfills the federal aspect of our advocacy mandate with our membership in the Canadian Alliance of Students Associations (CASA).

Federal lobbying provides the University of Lethbridge Students’ Union with another vessel to express the needs of UofL students to the federal level of government. The ULSU believes that it is important to lobby the federal level of government because they can play a vital role in controlling student debt and in increasing the accessibility and affordability of a post-secondary education.

CASA is, in essence, an alliance of student associations and unions formed to lobby/advocate for the best interests of students on a national level. This organization is composed of 24 post-secondary institutions in Canada and represents more than 300,000 students. It is a lobby group that is focused solely on post-secondary education at the federal level and inter-governmental levels of decision-making and nothing else.

CASA prides itself as a lobby group that presents realistic  on post-secondary education to the federal level of government. The ULSU strongly respect the lobbying methods used by CASA because they make sound pragmatic arguments to party leaders, senators, members of parliament and other political policy-makers to draw the government’s attention at a more personal level about education.

This is a member-driven organization that operates under a “one school, one vote” philosophy where each school has equal say regardless of its size. The membership, rather than the staff, shapes the policy, goals and direction of the organization.  

The organization operates under four primary policy principals.

Accessibility: CASA believes that any academically qualified student with the desire to pursue post-secondary education should not face a barrier – financial, social, political, physical, cultural, or otherwise.

Affordability: CASA believes that students should not accumulate an unreasonable or insupportable amount of debt in the pursuit of a post-secondary education or in continuing such an education.

Innovation: CASA believes that post-secondary education should have sustainable research programs across all disciplines, with the benefits of such research shared across all levels of the student body.

Quality: CASA believes in a quality public post-secondary education system that is properly funded, effective and accountable; cooperatively maintained and enhanced by the federal and provincial governments.

CASA has worked on and has advocated for several issues that the ULSU feels is relevant to students such as the Canada Student Loans Program, the Canada Student Grant Program, Canada Study and Access Grants, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, access and affordability of PSE for under-represented students, Debt Reduction in Repayment, Interest Relief, and interest and rates on student loans ¹

 

“CASA has played an important role in the development of federal policies on post-secondary education – in particular the Canadian Opportunities Strategy.  I am confident that these young leaders, and the organization they now represent, will continue to have a positive influence on the federal policy in the future.”

- The Rt. Hon. Paul Martin, then Minister of Finance.

“Your input is welcomed and encouraged without reservation.  Our party will try to give voice to the very real concerns that face Canadian students.  It is only with your help that we can accomplish this.”

– Rt. Hon. Joe Clark

 

“CASA’s recommendations have been taken very seriously by the government, and many of them have found their way into federal budgets.”

- Hon. Maurizio Bevilaqua
Secretary of State for Science, Research and Development
and former Chair of the House of Commons Finance Committee.

On the tangibles of advocacy…

As outlined in the Post Secondary Learning Act of Alberta, the mandate of all student unions/associations in Alberta is to advocate on behalf of their constituents, to the University administration, and to the three levels of government. This year the ULSU has done this through its membership in The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), The Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS), attendance at City Council meetings, as well as on numerous committees at the University level (including the Board of Governors, the Senate, General Faculties Council, and University Budget).

Of these groups, the federal and provincial advocacy tends to be the most contentious when it comes to the student body. The ULSU pays approximately $26,000 in membership fees to CASA and CAUS. As you may have guessed, the money for these membership fees comes from YOUR SU fees. A common question we receive, and rightly so, is “What are the benefits of being part of these organizations?” People frequently want to see the tangibles for the money they have contributed, so how do we justify spending all this money to be part of these organizations?

The answer is quite simple – access.

March was home to the Lobby Conventions for both CAUS and CASA, which were both weeklong events during which members from the ULSU go to the respective capital cities and advocate on behalf of the students here at the University of Lethbridge.

For CAUS, President Adam Vossepoel, VP Academic Jenn Prosser, and VP Academic Comissioner Kendall Yamagishi spent several days in Edmonton lobbying MLA’s and Ministers. During that week, CAUS had 51 meetings with members of the Legislative Assembly, including meetings with the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, Doug Horner. 

For CASA, Adam Vossepoel, President Elect Jeremy Girard, and I spent a week in Ottawa running around Parliament Hill. During that week, CASA had over 160 meetings with MP’s, Senators, and parliamentary aids. Some names you might recognize are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, Stéphane Dion, Speaker of the House Peter Milliken, local MP Rick Casson, and local Senator Joyce Fairbairn. That’s right; we were able to meet with all five party leaders, a first for the organization. Also, I was invited to attend a special meeting with the top dogs at Elections Canada, were we had the opportunity to discuss the “Lethbridge Incident,” as well as future plans to increase accessibility for student voters.  

So all of these meetings are fine and dandy, but the follow-up question is do they accomplish anything?

If any of you were watching CPAC during the last week of March, you would have probably noticed a few questions during question period about Post Secondary Education, questions that were formulated directly from CASA policy. During the 2008 Federal Election, many of the main political parties had policy almost word-for-word from CASA in their PSE plans. Both the new Canadian Student Grant Program and Repayment Assistance Program introduced by the government address policy presented by CASA; policy that was contributed to by the ULSU. The ~$2 Billion in funding for deferred maintenance announced by the federal government was not just a victory for CASA, but also the University of Lethbridge, as we recognized this as a major issue on our campus. When teamed up with CAUS, we are able to secure $145 million of that for the U of L. Last year CAUS succeeded in lowering interest rates on student loans in Alberta, something that many of us here are quite appreciative of. Elections Canada said they want the ULSU to be one of their main partners in formulating a student strategy for the next election. Elizabeth May said the Green Party wants to use CASA as their main source of information and policy on PSE. The Prime Minister Stephen Harper talked positively about CASA in caucus (he is not frequently known for mentioning advocacy groups in caucus). If you noticed that now when you apply for an Alberta Student Loan, they no longer consider the value of your car as income, that’s another CAUS victory. The increase in funding for university residential spaces across the province? Check mark CAUS!

While these victories may seem small compared to the dozens upon dozens of policies presented by CASA and CAUS, you really need to look at the system in which they are working. If you ask for 30 things, you might only get two, and it could take a year or two to implement. That’s the nature of the bureaucracies of the provincial and federal government. However, that is MAJOR progress. It’s the needs of students being addressed, and both CASA and CAUS are attributed levels of success that many similar organizations could only dream of. Not many organizations can say they get meetings with the head of every political party, or have its members on a first name basis with the Minister of Advanced Education and Technology. But we can, and that’s worth something.

Brodie Pattenden

VP Admin

The 2008/2009 CAUS Membership

ULSU VP Admin Brodie Pattenden with Stephane Dion

ULSU President Adam Vossepoel with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff

 

 

 

 

“Huzzah Minister!” – Lobbying Day 1

As part of our ongoing news feed from Ottawa, we are officially concluding our first real day of lobbing. The membership has already conducted 34 individual meetings with Senators, MPs, and key staff. The ULSU got to meet with the following:

Myself

• Ed Komarnicki, MP: Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and to the Minister of Labour 
• Rodger Cuzner, MP: Official Opposition Whip

 

From Left to Right: Rodger Cuzner: MP, Derek Krywvj: Red River College, Kyle Steele: Acadia University, Brodie Pattenden: ULSU

 

 

Jeremy

• Mike Savage, MP: Official Opposition Critic for Human Resources and Skills and the Chair of the Liberal Caucus Committee on Post-Secondary Education and Research
• Rick Norlock, MP

Adam

• Paul Calandra, MP
• Martha Hall Finley, MP: Platform Outreach Chair for the Liberal Party of Canada

These meetings so far have been incedibly exciting, with reception of CASA’s priorities, as outlined in Adam’s previous post, being quite positive. The pragmatic solutions we are proposing are not requiring huge capital injunctions (something that tends to be a hard sales pitch during a recession), but rather a more efficient and effect use of current funds. Also, initiatives such as the Removal of the Textbook Importation Tax and Fair and Balanced Copy-write Law, have little to do with funding to and from government coffers, but rather adjustment to policy that enhances innovation, affordability, and accessibility in the PSE environment. 

There are still three more days and ~120 lobby meetings to go, with highlight meetings such as Elections Canada and Stephane Dion for myself, and Michael Ignatieff for Voss. Meetings are being added daily, so stay tuned!

Brodie Pattenden

VP Admin, CASA Fanboy

The current financial crisis – Calvin & Hobbes Style

With an almost clairvoyance on how we got to the wonderful little situation that we are currently in, a 15 year old Calvin & Hobbes comic strip breaks today’s financial situation into its most basic form:

 

 

Courtesy of reddit.com, here is an alternative dialogue:

Calvin (to Susie): Look at this glass of lemonade. You’ll be able to sell it for 50 cents tomorrow, but I’ll sell it to you for 25 cents today.

Susie: I don’t have the money.

Calvin: That’s okay, I’ll loan you the money because you’ll be able to pay me back with some interest… say… 35 cents. The lemonade will surely be worth 50 cents tomorrow… You can even drink part of it and sell the rest and you’ll still be able to pay me back.

Susie: Well, I guess… you’ve been selling lemonade for so long, you should know

Calvin: Here ya go.

Random kids: wow, what an easy way to make dough… we’ll take some of your lemonade too on exactly those terms.

Random kid: If I can get another kid to loan me money against the value of this lemonade a week from now, I can invest it in lemons today and be a millionaire by the time the day is through. Who knew getting rich is so easy?

(meanwhile just in eyeshot)

Moe 1 to Moe 2: I bet Susie and those kids won’t be able to sell that lemonade tomorrow.

Moe 2: You’re on.

Calvin to Moe 2: Say Moe 2, I just sold a bunch of glasses of lemonade and will get paid at least 35 cents tomorrow after they sell part of it to pay me back, can I borrow some money to buy more lemons. I sure am glad lemonade’s a fungible commodity.

Moe 2: Sure, I’ll be making some dough when Susie and them won’t be able to pay you back, so I feel comfortable loaning you more money now.

Mom: Geez, look how much lemonade Calvin is selling… and if the Moes are still lending him money, it must be a good model. If I want to sell any lemonade I better do like he does or I’ll lose my market share.

(next day)

Susie: Gee, I drank only a sip of that lemonade, and now no one wants to buy it. I won’t be able to pay Calvin back all the way. at least I got a sip… I’ll pay him for that.

Calvin: Where’s my money?

Susie: I couldn’t sell your lemonade. But here’s 15 cents… it’s all I can pay.

Calvin: WHAT!?! But it’s so valuable… it’s worth at least 50 cents.

Susie: sorry, I know… I thought I would be able to make a fortune.

Calvin: Crap, me too. Well I’ll have to take back what’s left.

Susie: I don’t think anyone else will want it.

Moe 2 (to Calvin): Where’s my money?

Calvin: I don’t have it. Here’s some lemonade.

Moe 2: Don’t have it? day-old lemonade? yuck.

Moe 2 (to Moe 1): see he doesn’t have it, pay up.

Moe 1: I don’t have any money, I was betting with those other kids that they’d be able to sell their lemonade, that was the only way I’d be able to pay you.

Moe 2: no money?

Moe 1: no money?

Calvin: Well I’d have some if you let me borrow some more.

Moe 2, Moe 1 and Calvin fall into a dust storm of fighting… Calvin narrowly escapes the fray

Mom: Geez things are looking hairy out there. I sure loaned out a lot of lemonade… crap, I don’t think I’m ever getting paid back from those kids. and now they’ll all come whining to me about how they didn’t get money or lemonade… Maybe Calvin’s system isn’t working out so hot, but If he has to shut down his lemonade stand, nobody will have lemonade ever.

Mom (to Calvin): Here, Calvin… this is 2 dollars. Buy some lemons and sugar.

Susie: I lost all my lemonade too, and my quarter, now I can’t buy anything.

Mom (to Susie): Here Susie, this is 2 dollars, you should be able to plant a lemon tree with this, and you’ll have all the lemonade you want. You can help me with chores if you want more.

(Mom continues paying out to all the neighborhood kids and the bullies for the blunder she and Calvin made.)

Mom: What the hell am I gonna do with all this day-old lemonade?

Dad: Where’d all our friggin money go? and What’s with all this day-old lemonade. And why are you in the lemonade business to begin with?

Mom: What matters is that all the neighborhood kids have been made whole.

Dad: WTF, sweetie… made whole. They bought lemonade for free and then treated it as if it was worth a fortune and created an intricate web of bets and loans and ran the neighborhood economy into the ground.. and your answer is to dole out the cash?

Mom: Well, we have to keep them occupied somehow or else they’ll be in their houses bugging their parents and breaking things.

Dad: Well I guess you’re right. We can’t just do nothing

Calvin: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!

Hobbes: Maybe you should try to just.. you know.. sell lemonade.

Calvin: But how am I supposed to make money doing that? I’m gonna sit on this wad of cash until Mom gets out of my hair, and then take Susie for all she has.

 

Brodie

VP Admin

budget 2009 – what does it mean for PSE?

Yesterday’s budget touched on several aspects of PSE. The two main initiatives are: improving infrastructure on campuses across the country, and an investment in Graduate Scholarships.  There are other areas the budget touches on, such as skills training and aboriginal education.
 
Improving Infrastructure at Universities and Colleges
The 2009 budget promised up to $2 billion to support deferred maintenance and repair projects at post-secondary institutions.   The funding is divided as follows: 70% of the funding is earmarked for university infrastructure and the remaining 30% for infrastructure at colleges, and the funds will be managed by Industry Canada.

The money comes with several additional caveats:
- Overall, funding allocation will be based on project merit and readiness
- For universities, preference will be given to projects that can improve the quality of research and development at the institution.
- For colleges, preference will be given to projects which  strengthen the ability of colleges to deliver advanced knowledge and skills training.

Analysis
At initial glance, these provisos appear somewhat confusing and potentially contradictory.  If  an institution proposes to fix a classroom with this funding this would seem to not fit under the “improving the quality of research and development” demand, even if it fits well under the “merit, readiness, and deferred maintenance” clause.

Moreover, the budget stipulates funds will pay for up to half of a project’s costs, with institutions needing to find an equivalent amount from other partners.  Some institutions can meet this, while a great many others – especially those in provinces most directly affected by the economic downturn – cannot.  Would that mean that institutions who fall into the latter category cannot access any funding at all?

CASA posed these questions to members of the Prime Minister and Finance Minister’s staff, and were told that these conditions were ‘rough guidelines’ and that the intent was to get money to universities and colleges to help them clear off needed maintenance projects and help stimulate the economy.  As well, the government is required, in the language of the budget, to “provide an initial report on progress this summer” and that the “Government will re-assess and, if necessary, reallocate funding” as necessary, based on the efficacy of the program.

 

Investing in Graduate Students
The 2009 Budget also promised $87.5 million over three years, starting in 2009–10, to the federal granting councils to temporarily expand the Canada Graduate Scholarships program, which supports Canada’s top graduate students.

The funding is divided as follows:
- $35 million/3 years  for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- $35 million/3 years for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- $17.5 million/3 years for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

These funds will provide for an estimated additional 500 doctoral scholarships, valued at $35,000 each per year for three years beginning in 2009–10, and an additional 1,000 master’s scholarships, valued at $17,500 each for one year, in both 2009–10 and 2010–11.

Budget 2009 also provides an additional $3.5 million over two years to offer an additional 600 graduate internships in science and business, through the Industrial Research and Development Internship program launched in Budget 2007

Analysis
Money for scholarships is a net positive, despite the low, low level of investment.  CASA would have preferred that the government used this money for grants to graduate students, separate from research as the loss of endowment dollars at PSE institutions deprive universities of this kind of aid.  CASA is also concerned that the new scholarship funding for  the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focused on business-related degrees.

I want to know what your thoughts/concerns are with these new developments….

 

Brodie

Help the ULSU – Win a free iPod Touch!

The ULSU needs your help!

While the elected members of the ULSU that are expected to run the organization are students, sometimes the needs and wants of the student body are not properly addressed. To combat this, the ULSU has put together a student survey aimed at collecting the opinions and satisfaction levels of its constituents. By having a concrete database of actual opinions, not just assumptions, this can help the people in charge of the ULSU make clear and accurate decisions that are most likely to have a positive impact on the student body.

This survey will ask you to rate your level of satisfaction on a number of questions, covering all the major areas of ULSU operations that affect YOU!

The bonus: By helping make the ULSU better for you, you can be entered to win an iPod Touch, or one of 3 Zoo gift certificates.

To enter, please visit www.ulsu.ca

Deadline for entry is midnight on January 30th, 2009.

Any questions or concerns, please contact myself at 329.2292 or su.admin@uleth.ca

Thanks,

Brodie
VP Admin

the 2008 swimming naked awards

NOTE: If you don’t care about the current financial situation and are not an economics nerd, you may not find this article interesting. Otherwise, welcome my brethren!

Yesterday The Economist announced their winners of the swimming naked awards for the year. The term swimming naked is derived from the famous observation by Warren Buffet, “You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.” So, needless to say, as the financial tide receded quite far this year (farther than anyone was expecting), leaving many people precariously exposed.

So, without further ado, here are The Economist’s picks:

 

Scoundrel of the year:Too many contenders to mention, but the last minute entrant has won by a landslide: Bernie Madoff, who is providing a helpful demonstration of the difference between a financial collapse due to management incompetence (most of this year’s banking failures) and a genuine 100% fraud.

 

Outstanding Public Relations: No question, the decision of the bosses of Detroit’s shrinking Big Three car makers to fly in separate corporate jets to appeal to Congress for a bail-out. What better way to tell the public that the leaders of corporate America are out of touch? Runner up: John Thain, boss of Merrill Lynch, who looked like a hero for saving his firm, only to blow it by demanding his bonus.

 

Greatest sovereign risk: In a year of meltdown, Iceland is a fitting winner.

 

Rumble in the jungle: Dick “the Gorilla” Fuld versus Lehman “Nameless” Employee. The boss who presided over Lehman’s demise was allegedly knocked out with a single punch in the investment bank’s gym, by an angry employee.

 

Gift horse: Mr Fuld wins again, for reportedly turning down multiple offers of life-saving investment in Lehman. Honourable mentions to the bosses of Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Ford, who all publicly said they did not need an injection of state funds, but may live to regret it.

 

The Andrew Mellon award for incompetence as Treasury Secretary: Hank Paulson, whose lack of strategy and catastrophic decision to let Lehman Brothers fail made a bad situation far worse.

 

Best letter: Runner up, for its undisguised Schadenfreude, was Congressman Henry Waxman’s letter to the heads of Wall Street firms after the government bought some of their shares, demanding to know the salaries of their top earners, their bonuses and how these were calculated. But the lifetime achievement award goes to the letter A, as in “triple-A rating”, which is now entering long-overdue retirement.

 

Most convincing Jekyll-and-Hyde impersonation: Scary sovereign-wealth funds were going to buy up the world. Then they were heroically going to rescue the banking system. Now they are in hiding, counting their massive losses and wondering where all their money went. In second place, and closely related, oil: expensive one moment, cheap the next.

 

Most dismal scientist: Nouriel Roubini and George Soros battled it out for the role of scarily-accented Dr Doom in the next James Bond movie, “A Quantum of Funds”, but nobody put the dismal science into economics more effectively than the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, during her unforgettable interview with Katie Couric. As she explained: “That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.” Indeed. Perhaps best enjoyed in the Tina Fey version from Saturday Night Live.

 

Client of the Year: Client Number Nine, aka Eliot Spitzer. Wall Street had little to cheer about in 2008, but the fall of its former persecutor in a sex scandal was one of them. Happily for former New York Governor Spitzer, America’s tradition of giving failures a second chance is alive and well. Starting soon, he will write a regular column in Slate, an online magazine.

 

Best supporting abbreviation: Last year, it was SIV (structured-investment vehicle). This year, the winner is TARP, which stands for troubled asset relief programme—better known as a blank cheque for Mr Paulson. Runner up: IOU.

 

Most oligarchic oligarch: Two strong entries: Mikhail Frydman, Len Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg (collectively), for driving out Robert Dudley, the boss of the joint-venture between TNK and BP; and the winner, Oleg Deripaska, for embarrassing first Britain’s government and main opposition by inviting two leading members onto his yacht, and then himself by falling foul of the credit crunch.

 

Party of the year: The $86,000 partridge-hunting trip funded by AIG, a government-rescued insurance firm, for some top clients. They had fun, but the public outcry was such that lots of other firms cancelled their holiday parties lest they be accused of wasting money in tough times. Cheers!

 

Badly-timed nickname: Awarded jointly to Whole Foods Market and Starbucks. Being known, respectively, as Whole Paycheck and Fourbucks is fine when the going is good, but not when consumers are obsessed with value for money. Both of these pricey retailers have had a miserable year. Whole Foods’ shares are down by 75% so far in 2008, and shares in Starbucks are down by over half.

 

VS.

In memoriam: A posthumous award for this year’s notable departures. Contenders include Alan Greenspan’s reputation as a great central banker; investment banks; the newspaper industry; sport-utility vehicles; fiscal prudence; the inexorable rise of BRIC economies and the theory that BRICs had “decoupled” from rich world economies; pay increases; and capitalism. But the winner is economic growth—gone, though one hopes not forever.

 

Flash Gordon award for saving the universe: Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, would have won, but the self-proclaimed mastermind of the great global banking bail-out claims only to have been saving the world. The winner is Warren Buffett, whose timely investments seem to have rescued both General Electric and Goldman Sachs, home of the financial Masters of the Universe.

 

Comeback kid: Not everyone had a bad year. Some of the business winners in 2008 include the value-shopper’s favourite, Wal-Mart, whose chief executive Lee Scott is leaving on a high; Ken Lewis, boss of Bank of America, which now has enough of the country’s money to deserve its name; Paul Volcker, who has replaced Alan Greenspan as everyone’s favourite ex-central banker; bankruptcy lawyers and corporate restructuring experts; sucking up to your boss to keep your job; and nationalisation. But the winner is cash, which once again is king. Hot favourite for next year’s comeback kid award? The Great Depression.

 

Brodie

The Effectiveness of Course Evaluations – Forum!

Hello lovely informed peoples….

 

How do you feel about course evaluations? Think they are a big waste of time and that no one reads them? Maybe your frustrated that you can access course evaluations when you are trying to assess which professor you want to take a class from….

 

Well fear no more!

 

On Tuesday, November 18th 2008 from 3 – 5 PM in AH100, the Centre for the Advancement of Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the ULSU presents:

This forum will start with a quick introduction of the currently known issues from students, both undergrad and graduate, faculty members, and University Administration. Then the discussion will break off into groups where every audience member will have a chance to provide input or concerns with the current course evaluation system. These groups will be facilitated by presenters, who will be responsible for recording notes. All of these notes will then be put in a  package and “presented” to Deans, University Administration, and all those other people who can make changes to the system.

 

This is a great opportunity for you and your peers to have their concerns or critiques heard and recorded!

 

The event is free to attend, and there will be beverages and food available.

 

I hope to see as many people out there as possible for this, as this is a huge step forward in address issues that a lot of students have had with the current system.

 

Peace & Love,

 

Brodie

Talking About Teaching: Course Evaluations