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Show ,, . . 86TH YEAR; NUMBER 33 SOUTN.IIN UTAH UNIRIISITY • c•DAII CITY, UTAH THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20, 1992 UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORES' COMPARATIVE FIVE-YEAR AVERAGE PROFITS .... Fiscal Year 1990 Fiscal Year 1990 Profit Five-Year Average Profit 2.7% 4.6 4.8 Dixie CEU 2.4% 4.6 7.4 6.2 9.3 9.6 12.4 suu 10.2 10.0 School usu U ofU wsu SLCC uvcc 5.5 6.8 7.7 8.9 Booksum Manager Dmnis Ohms agrees with students that tht price of textbooks are too high; however, tht fault lits with publishers and not &okstore policy, he says. Bookstore's Ohms explains profit use BY PAUL MEADE Thunderbird Correspond.mt " The price of a textbook is too high, but unfortunately, that money doesn't come to SUU," said Dennis Ohms, Bookstore manager. Ohms bas recently come under fire following a state audit which showed that SU's Bookstore was making a higher average percentage profit than any of the state's other institutions. The report also criticized the way in which profits are used to purchase tickets to athletic and dramatic events for faculty and staff. In 1989, $29,000 went toward such purchases, and the report calls the expenditure " questionable. " According to SUUSA President Kimber Heaton , part of the reasoning behind the ticket purchases was that unlike faculty members on other campuses, SU faculty doesn't receive Bookstore discounts. Also, he said, approximately half of the Bookstore's revenue is generated during the summer, mainly from campus visitors to the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Other expenditures of Bookstore profits have included $219 ,000 spent toward scholarships since 1986 and U5,000 used to help fund construction of the Harris Pavilion. As of yet, the Board of Regents has not made a policy that specifically bans certain uses of bookstore profits. Currently, much of the decision making regarding spending is left up to the individual institution's board of trustees. Overall, however, the audit gave SU's Bookstore a favorable rating, especially for its high percentage of used books sold, and its pricing policy. Since the report, Heaton has been carrying out his own investigation into Bookstore policy. H e says that as a result, he is convinced students are not being "ripped off," but he does think prices are still too high. Heaton said he is curious as to why the Board of Trustees has suggested a 10 percent profit margin goal, and he said he will bring the issue up in the Trustees' next meeting. According to the auditor's report, 1990 bookstore profits ranged from a low of 2.4 percent at Utah State University to a high of 12.4 percent at College of Eastern Utah. SUU's profit was 10.2 percent. SU's Bookstore, however, maintained the highest average five-year profit margin at 10 percent. For most students, the area of greatest concern is the Bookstore's buyback program. Ohms claims it is one of, if not the best, in the state. He said , " We estimate we passed on an additional saving of $14-0,000 to students last year alone." That's because 56 percent of all books sold here are used, much more than most institutions, Ohms said. Although many students complain about the amount of money they get back for used books, Ohms said the Bookstore pays one of the highest rates in the country. If a text is to be used .again, students receive 60 percent of what they paid for a new book, and 50 percent of what they paid for a used one. lf a text is not being used again, or if an instructor is late in putting his book request through, the Bookstore operates as an agent for used book companies. As a result, according to Ohms, the Bookstore has no say in the amount paid for books, and it doesn't receive any cut for being an agent. But Ohms says the Bookstore does benefit from the deal . ''They give us a good rating, and that means we can get more used books to sell· to our students." (CONTI NUED ON PAGE 3) |