Colleges review ethics of textbook selection

Colleges are grappling with how to balance conflict-of-interest policy with professors' authority to choose textbooks. Prices have tripled in 20 years

A Miami Dade College professor took a trip to San Francisco, paid for by a textbook publisher. Weeks later, his three-member committee selected the publisher's book as required reading for all anatomy students at MDC's Kendall campus and the department chairman approved. Retail cost at the college bookstore: $178.50.

A recent state ethics finding on the trip two years ago has raised questions about MDC's ambiguous rules for choosing textbooks. And it has opened a window into the nation's $6 billion textbook industry, whose prices have tripled in the past two decades. MDC, the nation's largest community college, is a key market for publishers, with more than 100,000 potential customers paying an average $800 a year and up for books and supplies, according to federal statistics.

The state ethics commission found probable cause that anatomy professor Alfonso Pino knew or should have known the trip to San Francisco was given to influence him. The panel declined to treat it as an ethics violation, in part because the weekend trip, which cost less than $700 for airfare and hotel, ``left little time if any . . . to participate in junket-like activities.'' Pino declined interview requests. His attorney, Mark Richard, who also heads the union that represents MDC professors, said Pino volunteered his time to review books, an essential task for educators. ''It's far cheaper to ask professors to give of their time, for just expense reimbursement, than to pay us our hourly rates to review these things,'' Richard said.

The ruling comes as universities and colleges grapple with how to construct conflict-of-interest policies without compromising professors' authority to choose teaching materials. MDC has no rules governing what professors can accept from a textbook company or what they must disclose. Pearson Education, Benjamin Cummings' parent company, had offered Pino a $250 honorarium but never paid him, the investigation found.

Professors say lucrative offers from publishers are rare. One small company made headlines in 2003 when it offered faculty $4,000 to review and require books, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education report.

The man who lodged the ethics complaint against Pino, Christopher Turley, was a textbook salesman whose book wasn't chosen. Turley has since left John Wiley & Sons, which he said did not offer trips. ''I didn't see the point of going in and competing. . . . There's no transparency on anything,'' Turley said. Norma Goonen, MDC's top academic official, said, ``This is normal practice. It's not something nefarious or horrible.'' MDC prohibits professors from accepting payment in exchange for choosing books but allows honoraria for reviewing books, said MDC attorney Carmen Dominguez. Honorarium limits are not defined, and professors are not required to report them. ''Either the lack of effective disclosure procedures or the insufficiency of disclosure in this case is troubling,'' said Tony Alfieri, director of the University of Miami's Center for Ethics in Public Policy.

At the University of Miami, a private school, professors consulting for a publisher must recuse themselves from book-selection committees, said spokeswoman Margot Winick. Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University require professors to report outside income, but conflict-of-interest rules do not cover textbook vendor trips. ''Everybody is struggling with this . . . [to] make more specific guidelines,'' said Diane Alperin, FAU associate provost of academic affairs. Broward Community College has no separate policy beyond state ethics laws. Ken Ross, vice president for academic affairs, said faculty paid by publishers to review books or attend conferences should not pick textbooks. ''We're looking to make them [guidelines] a little clearer,'' he said.

MDC's textbook policy, like some from other colleges, deals only with potential conflicts arising from books written by professors, who may not participate in selecting their own books. MDC, like other community colleges, is covered by state ethics rules. Choosing textbooks is considered an academic freedom, and the choices tend not to be treated like typical government purchases, even when public universities are involved. The state ethics commission agreed that professors do not meet the legal definition of purchasing agents. By comparison, at the local government level in Miami-Dade County, no one involved in purchasing may accept a trip paid for by a vendor. ''It may be an issue that a lot of colleges and universities should look at,'' said Dominguez, of MDC.

It's not hard to find students complaining about the cost of textbooks. ''I was very shocked [by the price]. There were no used [books] left,'' said Bridgett Shane, 20, an anatomy student in Pino's class who calls him ``an awesome professor.'' Overall, prices for books and supplies rose at twice the inflation rate between 1986 and 2004, according to a 2005 federal government audit. Textbook companies have increasingly put out newer editions of books more quickly -- every three or four years instead of every four to five years -- making it harder for students to buy and sell used books. Publishers told auditors they update information and include more interactive extras to meet professors' demands.

The March 12, 2005, meeting attended by Pino included 14 other professors from across the country. ''It's pretty widely done,'' said David Hakensen, a spokesman for the publisher. ``This is the one way that we get feedback on our product.''

A spokeswoman for Pearson's rival McGraw-Hill, Mary Skafidas, said her company also schedules regular faculty focus groups around the country to get professional feedback, though not to review specific books. She said professors are chosen for their expertise.

Invitations to conferences seem to vary among schools and departments. English Department faculty members at FIU, for example, get pizza parties paid for by sales representatives, but not out-of-town trips, said Carmela Pinto-McIntire, the department chairwoman. Biology Department members get hors d'oeuvres trays, and some professors get a stipend of $100 or $200 to review books, said Gene Rosenberg, associate department chairman. ''Trips? Gosh, I wish,'' Pinto-McIntire said. ``Nobody's ever offered me a trip.''

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A NEW RELIGION FOR SCOTTISH SCHOOLS

In an email to Benny Peiser, economist Alan Peacock [pavone@blueyonder.co.uk] -- now aged 84 -- compares religious education of the past with Greenie education today. An abridged version appeared in "The Scotsman". A few days ago, Sir Alan Peacock celebrated his fiftieth anniversary of becoming a Professor of Economics, successively at Edinburgh, York, Buckingham and Heriot-Watt

On Friday 2nd February at the University of Edinburgh the Secretary of State for Environment etc. delivered an excellent piece of propaganda on the virtues of the latest UN report on climate change, with all the usual arguments for an apocalyptic view, succinctly presented. He revealed an interesting fact about the 'global' nature of his department's campaign to keep us on the straight and narrow - the issue of a pamphlet for schools. This is already claimed as a great success, getting the young in line to be in profound agreement with the Climate scientists backing the Minister.

Irreverent thoughts hit me at this moment in his disquisition. Did they use rhyming couplets - remember "coughs and sneezes, spread diseases"? I recalled the naughty cautionary tale attributed to Hilaire Belloc, suitably adapted by yours truly -"Uncle George and Auntie Mabel, fainted at the breakfast table, let this be an awful warning, never counter global warming!" No prizes to the elderly multitudes who remember the original last line!

The next thought I had was even more subversive. Could those of us who questioned whether the UN predictions were firmly based on best practice science and economics be permitted to enter the 'market' of ideas and issue schools with an alternative view? Of course, tender minds must be guarded against the threat of inflammatory documents that would corrupt the morals and manners of the young but this is no argument for 'zero tolerance' of views counter to officially approved scientific nostrums.

A reasonable case can be made out against inundating schools with a confusion of different standpoints on fundamental issues regarding our future. However, I would be less suspicious of raising barriers to entry against a different view on climate change had I not read, to my immense surprise, the written evidence of the Government Chief Scientist, Sir David King, to the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs (2005) concerning climate change. He categorizes sceptics who have no 'scientific training' (undefined) and other 'professional lobbyists' as likely as not to be hired guns, and, as some of other establishment figures have suggested, in the pay of the oil companies.

When some of us recently issued a detailed critique of the much-acclaimed Stern Report, which gives its economic blessing to the establishment view and is endorsed by the Royal Society, it was perhaps hardly necessary for us to state quite clearly that none of us received any financial or institutional support for our work. But it seemed advisable to do so. (See the journal, World Economics, October - December 2006 , p. 166)

I received a sound elementary education at the Grove Academy, Broughty Ferry (1928-33!) in grammar, spelling, arithmetic, singing, and bible studies for which I am immensely grateful. Of course, our daily input of religion was according to the doctrines of the Church of Scotland, but no attempt was made at converting us. I only remember one curious case where our routine was given over to the Band of Hope who were allowed to proselytize in a sensational manner on the moral and physical damage resulting from the consumption of alcohol. We were given an afternoon off in order to be conducted round a macabre visual display in large jars showing the corroding effect of alcohol on the human body with all the attendant excitement of a trip to Dundee, and then, some weeks later, were obliged to write an essay on The Dangers of Drink , and in school time .

I admit that there would be some teachers who would regard the Band of Hope's mission as entirely consonant with Christian doctrine, other than in regard to the medicinal properties of whisky. Likewise, environmental studies, which appear to be rapidly replacing traditional doctrine as the kernel of religious observance in schools, will admit the occasional display of the wares, say , of the World Wildlife Fund- much admired by the Secretary of State - or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, as friendly sects, whatever misgivings one might harbour about the effects that animal behaviour could have on emission of carbon and methane gases.




More school hysteria

To an Arizona middle school, Batman! Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.

The student described the person as 6 feet 3 inches tall and possibly male. "We're assuming it was male, although they did have a mask on," Clark said. Officers combed the desert around the middle school. A nearby elementary school and high school also were on lockdown as officers sought the caped crusader. The result - no Batman. "It's just one of those interesting little stories that we looked into but we couldn't find anyone," Clark said.

Nedda Shafir, a spokeswoman for the Cave Creek Unified School District, said putting all the schools on lockdown was a precautionary measure. "We didn't want to take any chances," Shafir said. "We just don't want to put anyone at risk."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"

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