Following Student Government Association President David Rosen’s allegations on Wednesday of questionable textbook practices, three UH professors have responded by saying that the accusations are false.
At Wednesday’s SGA meeting, Rosen said psychology professor Richard Kasschau was forcing his students to buy textbooks written by him for the course.
"I challenge the ill-informed pseudo-President Rosen directly to prove it," Kasschau said. "We’re using the best system that’s currently available."
Kasschau said that the publisher sets the price of the online textbook, which is found at www.psych-ai.com, and he only receives a small royalty from writing the text. Kasschau said that the online textbook offers students unlimited tutorial assistance and quizzes to understand the material.
Based on comparisons from other universities in the nation, he said, students who use the online text tend to score 15 to 18 percent higher compared to introductory psychology students from other universities.
"It’s not a Web site you’re paying for. You are paying for textual material," Kasschau said. "(The Web site is) independent of me. I simply put my materials on it. I am not an owner, and I get absolutely no benefits personally from it."
Kasschau also said that WebCT is not equipped to handle the technology his text needs.
"WebCT cannot handle this system. We tried when we developed this text, but WebCT isn’t sophisticated enough," Kasschau said.
SGA Vice President Sam Dike said that students shouldn’t be charged with Web site fees that aren’t included with class fees.
"Textbooks aren’t free, and that’s fine, but I think it’s a problem when you’re charging for a quiz or a test. It means I’m paying for my grade," Dike said.
Political science senior David Williams said he dropped an introduction to psychology class because he felt Kasschau profited from the textbook and online text in levels comparable to Kasschau’s salary.
Williams said that because of the online text, not every student is being graded with the same relevance. The system grades students on the first few questions rather than the whole quiz, he said.
"I am not in this to gouge the students," Kasschau said. "If he goes and checks per page cost, given the complexity of the material, mine is the cheapest or the second cheapest in the bookstore. Paper costs are going steadily upward. This has not been reflected in what I’m charging."
Botany professor Alfred Loeblich said Rosen does not understand his class and accompanying materials.
"Whoever David Rosen is, he has no idea of what I do for my classes," Loeblich said.†"I think before one has derogatory things to say that they ought to have some knowledge of my work rather than parrot a party line."
Rosen said Loeblich requires students to buy biology packets through A+ Review, an off-campus textbook retailer. He also said that without these packets, students were unable to receive a grade.
"It really looks like he has a financial incentive to steer traffic to A+ Review, and if not, I hope he’ll agree to put his packets in the Copy Center," Rosen said.
Loeblich said that the allegations are false.
Though A+ Review does sell and distribute his class packets, Loeblich said that students are not required to buy them. Each packet has a different set of questions at the end of each chapter to prevent students from cheating.
Loeblich said that because each packet is customized, the University Copy Center is not equipped to handle printing the packets.
Each packet is around $30, Loeblich said, which is less expensive than other textbooks that cost around $200. The royalties he receives, Loeblich said, depends on how many copies are sold, but it is usually around $15 a copy.
Biology senior Arman Jahangiri took one of Loeblich’s classes and bought the mandatory packet at A+ Review, which was $30.
The packets are equipped with a 5-digit number so students do not use their Social Security or University IDs. Without this number, students will not be graded, Jahangiri said. A+ Review only accepts cash for the packets and requires students to give their personal contact information.
"A+ Review began personally calling me before each test," Jahangiri said.
Rosen also said that history professor Thomas O’Brien was making students buy a textbook costing approximately $120 that contains an access code for essay questions from www.coursecompass.com.
"Students should not have to pay for essay questions," Rosen said. "Essay questions should be free."
O’Brien said he uses the same textbook in all four of his undergraduate courses, with the text and Web site designed to "complement the related themes of the four courses while exposing (students) to as wide an array of scholarly opinions."
"Using a carefully designed text and linked web materials developed and revised over the course of 10 years has allowed me to provide extensive, relevant, quality materials to my students at two-thirds the cost of assigning a different series of†texts or monographs for each course," O’Brien said.
For students taking more than one of his history courses, or who decide to sell the book, O’Brien said the costs are less than half of what they would be under the "traditional method of teaching."
"In light of the above, I find the characterization of my textbook policies as ‘self-serving’ to be curious, to say the least," O’Brien said.
