Pedersen

I was walking to my Editing and Layout class about a week ago, when I suddenly realized I needed to buy a book for class.

I put the shoelace express into high gear and braved the subterranean labyrinth to get to the bookstore.

I arrived at my destination and a clerk gets my book for me. I take it over to the check-out desk and she rings it up. I am surprised when I see that I’m paying somewhere close to $25 for a copy of the Associated Press Stylebook, but I shrug it off and go to class.

Then I get home and decide to look up the price online and see how much I should have paid. According to the Associated Press online bookstore, any regular Joe who would want to buy it would pay $24.90, $18.95 for the book and $5.95 for shipping.

I felt relieved until I looked closer and saw that was the price for the category labeled, “other journalists.” I then saw two other categories, “AP member newspapers,” and “college bookstores,” both of which were only $17.90, exactly $7 cheaper. That is a mark-up of nearly 40 percent.

Of course, this is nothing new to college students or even professors. We have been paying hundreds of dollars every year to buy the latest editions of books with nothing changed except for perhaps an extra page or two.

They have us pinned in a captive market like helpless sheep, forced to be sheared every few months until we can escape.

Of course, there are some books that must be purchased every year. The AP Stylebook is a perfect example. Also, books about tax laws or dictionaries. These cannot be avoided. But should they really have such a steep raise in price?

There was a federal law that went into effect last July that forced publishers to document and share information about books’ prices, three previous editions and other formats, such as online.

However, this will not lower the prices of books in the least. Unless it somehow makes the publishers feel guilty, we will not see lower prices.

It is the publishers’ business, so it is understandable why they try to squeeze out as much money as they can from both the schools and the students. And I’m sometimes a fan of capitalism, but not when it is a monopoly.

Perhaps this all occurs because there are deals made for the school to only go through certain publishers in exchange for a cut of the money. And maybe this isn’t a bad thing, if the school gets money, then it can grow. But don’t we already pay enough for tuition, which seems to be rising each year?

I think that perhaps the school should set an example. I think that the school should take the deal that is best for the students, the deal that allows them to buy the cheapest books that are still of high quality.

Imagine how this would affect our public image! It is a public relations dream: “Emporia State: the selfless school.”

It has the potential to be a major selling point for any potential students, which would more than make up for what money we may lose in book deals. We may even consider a raise in tuition more permissible, depending on how much we could save on books.

We must write to the administration, tell them what we want. With no prodding, there will be no action taken. It is up to us to voice our opinion, or continue to writhe in the pain of high prices.

I think it is possible for ESU to set an example.

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Pedersen

I was walking by Wooster Lake today and thought it absolutely breathtaking.

The gentle flow of the grass being pushed along by the breeze, the crispness of the pre-fall air and the serenity of the lake itself forced me to take a deep breath and revel in the scene.

But suddenly, I saw a bit of red out of the corner of my eye. It was an empty, crushed-up can of soda on the ground next to a wadded ball of paper not 50 feet from a trashcan.

Although the campus is cleaner than the streets of Kansas City, it seems to me that litter has always been a bit of a problem on campus. Whether it is an abandoned foam take-out box in the Union Square or an empty pack of cigarettes in front of the Memorial Union, people leave trash behind.

I do not believe that this problem is due to a lack of trashcans at all. We have plenty of trashcans. What we are lacking is pride in our campus.

Our campus is beautiful, I must say. In all seasons, I find it to be an aesthetically pleasing place to walk around. Yet I have seen people who smoke a cigarette and toss the butt onto the ground rather than put it into an ashtray or extinguishing it and throwing it away.

So what is there to do? The people who already throw away their trash will always continue to throw away their trash and those that don’t care may well continue to not care.

I say that we who care right now should care more in order for future generations to match us. I say that we need to push not only cleaning up after yourself, but recycling what we can as much as we can. I say that we must lead by example.

There has already been a push for more recycling on campus in the last few years. Spurred on by the sensation of the “green movement,” we students have felt a need to have more recycling facilities on campus. Just this year we have a new newspaper recycling receptacle in the Union.

However, it still isn’t enough. We obviously have recycling capabilities, so why not maximize them?

Of course, all of this would have to go through the bureaucracy of the system and deals would have to be struck. It would cost money.

But what would happen if we students took matters into our own hands?

Green Door Recycling is a company here in Emporia that will recycle two 18-gallon bins every two weeks for only $15 per month.

What if a student bought this service and, with the permission of the instructor, put a bin in one of their classrooms for a semester, urging peers to throw waste paper into it? And what if they put a collection jar at the front of the classroom for people to donate to recycling?

And what if, eventually, every single classroom on campus had a recycling box? What if the students of ESU set up their own recycling community for much cheaper than it would be if our student fees were raised after a deal with a recycling company?

I think our campus would appreciate it. I think Wooster Lake would gently wave in appreciation, the Union Square would breathe a sigh of relief and each building would be more swelling with pride than the day they were built.

But perhaps there are too many who don’t care.

Pedersen

I have always enjoyed most of the things this school has to offer.

I came here for an education, and I am receiving it. What I wasn’t sure of was what exactly the school had to offer me outside of classes.

The Union Activities Council makes sure the students that go to this school cannot truthfully say, “there’s nothing to do in Emporia.” Every year, we have a variety of activities that students can go to that allow us to get away from the strife and toil of studying and working on homework.

From Bingo Night to Flintstock, we have a wide range of opportunities to cure boredom and spice up a night throughout the year. UAC even sponsors a few “Night at the Movies” during which students can go to a movie for only $3, and I think that’s awesome.

But what I do not think is awesome is an event that is a shallow, pointless waste of time and UAC money that can sadly only be summed up as unpleasant.

Of course, everyone has different opinions of how fun an event is, but I think if we speak truthfully we realize that there are certain events that we simply do not gain much from, be it knowledge or entertainment.

I have been to a few of these in my day and you can usually spot them by their name. If the title of the event is something that is common knowledge, it is usually not going to be very fulfilling.

One such event that has already happened this year was “Tom Ryan: Fighting the Freshman 15.” I did not attend this event because it seems to me that the best weapons for fighting the “Freshman 15″ are obvious and already at our disposal: exercise and being conscious of your diet. That explanation didn’t take an hour and a half nor did it cost UAC hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of dollars. Also, I’m not a freshman.

Now I’m sure that Tom Ryan was at least entertaining and that the event wasn’t a complete waste of time and money, but I feel that we deserve better than what we already know.

I wondered exactly why we have these events.

I’ve spoken to UAC members in the past and they have told me that they scout for events at conferences that showcase college-based activities. I know that some of the events they find at these conferences are well worth the money and time, such as Johnny Walker, the comedian we had a few semesters ago or Hard ‘N Phirm, who came last year.

But all of them were about pure entertainment. There was not much education, unless you count Hard ‘N Phirm’s song about pi.

I have been told by Bryce Cooke, a member of ASG, that the school requires such educational events because of ESU’s mission statement. I can understand that, but I don’t think we should have such requirements.

If we didn’t have these requirements, UAC members could be more selective when they pick events instead of looking for a blend of education and entertainment that turns out to not have enough of either in order to fill a quota.

Overall, I think that the members of UAC know what we want, for they themselves are part of us. If given the option, they would only have the best events, but they must bow to the administration’s requirements.

Hopefully the next time that UAC is picking events, it won’t even be an issue. Perhaps the events they will be choosing from will all be spectacular and not a single one will be a waste of time and money. But the odds of that happening are low. The school’s requirements have a bit of a stranglehold on exactly what UAC can pick.

I don’t think the administration will back down, so I think it is up to UAC to make the right decisions.

Choosy UACers don’t choose dreck.