LEGACIES SHOULD FACTOR INTO ADMISSIONS - PAGE 8
GRADUATION COUNTDOWN IN DOUBLE DIGITS - PAGE 13
SERVING THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY FOR OVER 90 YEARS
1918-2011
FEBRUARY 16, 2011
VOLUME 93, ISSUE 4
English Department to Boycott Bookstore in Fall ’11
PHOTO BY NORA MALLOZZI/THE RAM
After endless complaints from faculty and students, the English Department voted to boycott the University Bookstore.
By CHRISTINE BARCELLONA OPINIONS EDITOR
Last Wednesday Feb. 9, members of the English department voted to boycott the University Bookstore, operated by Barnes & Noble, during the fall 2011 semester. The vote was nearly unanimous, with two abstentions, and came in the wake of complaints from faculty and students about the bookstore’s practices. The English department will ask that faculty teaching English courses, including adjunct professors and graduate students, refrain from ordering textbooks for their classes next semester. During an Arts and Sciences Council meeting prior to
the English department vote, 11 departments pledged their support for the English department’s proposal to boycott the bookstore; however, it is not yet clear if other departments will choose to boycott. The Office of the Provost has formed a committee to try to address complaints from the English and other departments. Dr. Nicola Pitchford, associate vice president for academic affairs and associate chief academic officer, had the task of assembling the committee, which will set its own agenda but will focus especially on improving communication between the bookstore, faculty and students. Pitchford is optimistic that the
sources of many faculty complaints can be ameliorated. “I think we’re already heading in the direction of trying to listen to and address faculty concerns,” she said. “There are going to be some places where there are going to have to be compromises, because Barnes & Noble are a for-profit business, so anything that is going to fundamentally lose them money, they’re not going to agree to.” The English department’s most serious grievances include the bookstore’s policy of cutting book orders, its frequent tendency to order the incorrect editions of texts, its failure to notify professors of the status of their textbook orders and the difficulty of finding books
in the store. Though the Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Web site claims that the company is contractually obliged and dedicated “to stocking every book for every student,” professors have found that the store’s practices suggest otherwise. Dr. Philip Sicker, an English professor, reports that on two instances, different bookstore managers informed him that orders at the bookstore were routinely cut. Two different under-ordering practices were cited; either the bookstore would cut all orders by a third, or the books were ordered based on the course’s prior enrollment, without taking into account changes in the University’s student-body size or the number of students currently enrolled in the class. Sicker was later informed by Chris Peterson, a regional representative for Barnes & Noble campus bookstores, that Barnes & Noble determines orders based on previous, not current, class enrollment. Additionally, though professors supply the bookstore with ISBN numbers, faculty have reported that the bookstore has still stocked incorrect editions of textbooks. Critical editions of classic texts can vary widely; for example, the 1918 edition of Frankenstein contains many textual differences
from later editions, which were heavily edited. Dr. Maria Farland, associate chair of the English department and a member of the committee that will work to resolve problems with the bookstore, noted that when she taught at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University, which both have Barnes & Noble-operated bookstores, professors received courtesy notes from the bookstores about the status of their orders. The Fordham bookstore sends professors a confirmation of the initial order, but does not follow up with notes on the books’ status or availability. “We need to demand the same level of professionalism as other Barnes & Noble locations,” Farland said. In an attempt to combat the problem, Farland asked English Department Secretary Carole Alvino to visit the bookstore daily before the fall 2010 semester began, to record the status of English professors’ book orders. She kept a list of missing books and was unable to find all of the books professors had ordered. “It’s a ridiculous situation when we have to send office staff to check up on books,” Farland said. “We shouldn’t have to use personnel and resources as a watchdog to get the best we can from the bookSEE BOYCOTT ON PAGE 3
University Tests Online Housing Lottery System By PATRICK DEROCHER SENIOR EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Fordham University’s Office of Residential Life is beginning a transition of the annual housing lottery from a hybrid paper-electronic system to an all-online setup beginning this academic year. Although it is not yet known whether the system will be fully operational in time for the upcoming lottery, implementation has been ongoing since summer 2010 and testing is set to commence in upcoming weeks. “The Office of Residential Life in conjunction with IT [Information Technology] has been diligently attempting to put the housing lottery online,” Greer Jason, assistant dean of students and director of residential life, said. According to Jason, the office viewed the University’s recent transition to the Banner information management system as an opportunity to make the transition to an online lottery, as most lottery systems integrate better with Banner than its predecessor, the Student Information System. In deciding what system to install, Jason said that the office spoke with representatives from peer and aspirant institutions before deciding to go with the StarRez housing software, which is currently used by institutions such as Boston College, Santa Clara University and the University of California at Berkeley. “We only received positive feed-
COURTESY OF STARREZ.COM
Office of Residential Life is beginning a transition of the annual housing lottery from a hybid paper-electronic system to an all-online setup beginning this year.
back about StarRez,” Jason said. “Specifically, the people we talked to said that they had good customer service.” In developing Fordham’s implementation of StarRez, the University worked with student focus groups at both campuses to ensure that student voices were heard and heeded through the entire process. “Wherever we could, we used student feedback and made decisions based on student opinion,” Jason said, adding that both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses had separate focus groups to hone in on the different needs of the two campuses. According to Jason, all students who were a part of the Rose Hill focus group had participated in the housing lottery at least once in the past. For the system to work fully with Fordham’s Banner system, Jason said, the University had to build technological environments and customize the software, working in tandem with representatives from StarRez. The system, which
week of Feb. 14. Due to the uncertainty, these books will not have lottery numbers on them, as in the past, but only the student’s graduation year, which will be used in ascertaining lottery order whether the process ends up online or inperson. The calendar and residence hall information traditionally included in the publication will be contained in the books. Jason was able to confirm that $200 room deposits will be due on Feb. 25, and that the Integrated Learning Community applications, including the newly formalized retention process, will occur that same week. In the case of the ILC lotteries, Jason said that they will occur
around March 9, in-person, regardless of whether the entire lottery system goes online. “We have found that many students whose roommates may not have gotten into the ILC find their roommates for the next year in the lottery,” she said. “So we are keeping it in-person this year and may continue to do so in the future.” When asked about the prospective Tierney Hall ILC, Jason said that no final decisions have been made, but that the Office of Residential Life is surveying students to ascertain what would be the best course of action for that residence hall once the freshman Manresa Program is moved to Jogues Hall in Martyrs’ Court.
Sports PAGE 20
Opinions PAGE 9
Culture PAGE 11
Men’s Basketball Extends Conference Losing Streak to 37 games.
New York Needs More Bike Lanes to improve traffic safety in the city.
Catch Hottest Designers Before NYC Fashion Week Ends.
normally takes one year to implement, was installed with about nine months of clearance before the lottery, though Jason is optimistic that the housing lottery will be nearly, if not entirely, prepared to go online. Before the beginning of the room selection process, the office plans on testing the StarRez system with students in late February and early March. According to Jason, the office is looking for student volunteers, and those who are interested should contact the Office of Residential Life. In spite of the present uncertainty, Jason confirmed that the office plans on distributing lottery books through residence halls during the
INSIDE