TU to begin purchasing textbooks for freshmen

The program also aims to reduce the overall cost of textbooks for undergrads, according to interim provost Jennifer Airey.

Managing Editor

In light of a new proposal revealed to the student body, I sat down with Dr. Jennifer Airey, the interim provost of TU, and asked a few clarifying questions about the new initiative to purchase all texts for students.

Initially spotted at the bottom of a TU Facebook post, whispers of what the new book purchasing program would actually look like abounded. Several variations of costs, which texts would be purchased, whether they will be physical or digital and other details seemed to be contradictory among the information sources.

The new program, as explained by Dr. Airey, is as follows:

The University of Tulsa will take on the cost of purchasing required texts for the classes taken by incoming freshmen and other first year students (i.e. transfer students). This aspect of the program would feature no cost to the students; the university will take on those costs, utilizing their ability to buy in bulk to reduce the overall cost while providing texts for students that otherwise would have to wait several weeks into the semester to find them. The primary goal of this focuses on providing first generation students or those without the necessary financials to go ahead and purchase hundreds of dollars’ worth of books in the first week.

Digital editions will be prioritized, but if a digital edition cannot be found, a physical copy will be loaned out to the student. If one does not particularly like the idea of all digital editions, they can opt out of the program in a way yet to be revealed. Likewise, professors will have some control over what texts will be prioritized as digital or physical copies, though a system to prevent professors from purchasing a multitude of texts because students will not directly see that cost is also in development.

Over the course of four years, all of the student body will have matriculated under this new program, and the university will continue to absorb that cost. The rather obvious rebuttal to that is to blame any future raising of tuition on the existence of this program, but the hope is that the necessary funds will be reallocated from the current tuition costs.

One option still lying on the table is the inclusion of the current student body into this plan. As it stands right now, only next academic year’s freshmen, transfer students and further years’ cohorts will see the fruits of this resolution. However, there has been discussion about rolling out the program as it stands to the entire undergraduate faction of the university.

Instead of TU covering the cost of all texts, non-freshmen or non-first year students would have to pay a fee per credit hour to receive these texts. Yet the goal remains clear: reduce the average cost of books purchased by students for each semester. Graduate students are exempt from this program; the book purchasing will only apply to undergrads.

Each student will be equipped with the required books as soon as the semester starts with a common, identical edition of each text. While this may not matter as much in STEM-oriented classes, Arts and Sciences students that spend time negotiating due to their continued use and low valuation.

Digital editions. It’s an unfortunate reality that purchasing pdfs will always be cheaper than physical editions, but it should still be mentioned.

between book editions, differing pagination and other idiosyncrasies in their texts will no longer have to experience those issues.

Students that could not afford to purchase texts will now be able to acquire these works under their common tuition payments.

Professors will have more liberty in purchasing different texts, especially with the rising costs of textbooks driving some departments to use older, more rare editions

Any tuition raise in the coming years will probably be blamed on this program.

The issue of course packs seems to exist somewhere in the gray area of this resolution. It’s unclear whether or not course packs will be included under the new rules and restrictions.

courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When the program is implemented, new students will be equipped with their required texts as soon as the semester starts.

The fight reportedly broke out because of a steak shortage.

Commentary Editor

On Jan. 28, there was a large fight that broke out involving 40 people at a Golden Corral in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. According to Gaven Lauletta who was not present at the fight but posted a video of it, “There was a shortage of steak and two parties were involved and one family cut in front of another family, they were taking their time and they ran out of steak and it got into a heated exchange at the tables.” It appears that initially the fight had to do with the steak shortage, with one man in the video posted by Lauletta of the event even saying, “All I wanted was some steak,” but it is still unclear why so many people were involved.

Additional reports say otherwise. Although not verified, one spokesperson is saying that the brawl broke out as a result of one customer thinking the person in line behind him had cut in front of him. Supposedly the customer had ordered a well-done steak, and the man behind him who ordered a rare steak received his first. However the fight was started, it has sparked further debate on whether the buffet’s food was worth it to begin with. high chair’ good. GC is a competitive midmajor no one respects because they’re in a weak conference with Ryans, Old Country

Comedian Roy Wood, Jr. tweeted, “As a former Golden Corral employee. Trust me. That steak is good. Not sure if it’s ‘2 yrs Probation aggravated assault with a kids

courtesy Wikimedia Commons Golden Corral is cooperating with the investigation led by Bensalem Township Police Department to determine the cause of the fight and the individuals involved. Buffet & Cracker Barrell.” Another person tweeted in disagreement, saying, “I promise Golden Corral ain’t good enough to be fighting over.”

There is still much up in the air about the exact events that occurred at Bensalem’s Golden Corral. Lauletta has been outspoken to TODAY that everybody at this time is “focusing on the wrong thing. What it boils down to is that it was a group of adults that weren’t acting like adults. You know, there were children there, there were babies. People got hurt, and it’s just — it’s not acceptable. And, you know, we have to be better than this.”

The following statement was issued by Bensalem Township Police Department’s Sgt. Glenn Vandegrift: “The social media videos depict the chaos of the scene at the time and most individuals were gone upon police arrival. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries resulting from the fight that we are aware of. Only a few, minor injuries were sustained.” The Police Department is trying to determine the exact cause behind the fight and who all were involved.

According to a statement by JK Hospitality LLC to TODAY Food, Golden Corral is cooperating with the police investigation. “We are aware of an unfortunate disturbance that started between two parties of guests at our franchise restaurant in Bensalem, PA. We notified the local authorities, and they are investigating the incident. Thankfully, no serious injuries have been reported. The safety of our guests and co-workers is our top priority.”