Petition will be delivered to the March 18 committee meetings.
By Katherine Garcia
kgarcia203@student.alamo.edu
Alexis Morrow, a liberal arts freshman at Northwest Vista College, is trying to stop the chancellor’s charge to use one textbook per course for the entire district.
The board of trustees approved the proposal during the Jan. 21 regular board meeting at Killen Center.
Students will pay for instructional materials upon registration, and a committee of two people per college will choose which ebook — or textbook, if no ebook equivalent is found — is best for the entire district.
“I heard what was going on, I was uncomfortable with it and I wanted to stop it,” Morrow said. “I don’t like the fact that it’s going to raise tuition and force us to pay for textbooks through the school.”
She plans to submit the petition to the board at the March 18 standing committee meetings at Killen Center.
The petition at Northwest Vista started Feb. 6 after Morrow’s call to the chancellor’s office, and it started at Palo Alto and this college this week, she said.
She hopes no later than today to begin circulating the petition at Northeast Lakeview and St. Philip’s colleges.
So far, the petitions have garnered 1,000 signatures, and Morrow hopes the number rises to 3,000 by the time they’re presented to trustees.
“The main goal is to make sure that the students know what is going on, that they pay attention to what they’re doing,” she said.
She said the book chosen would not necessarily give students the best education.
Morrow said she was still putting together the petition before she decided to call the chancellor’s office at 1 p.m. Feb. 6 to ask for a response.
She spoke with Adriana Contreras, deputy to the chancellor, and someone by the name of Ms. Carol, later confirmed as Jo-Carol Fabianke, vice chancellor of academic success.
Morrow said Fabianke told her, “This initiative has nothing to do with you.”
Fabianke explained in a phone interview Thursday that students do not have input because faculty choose textbooks, and “that’s the way it’s always been.”
See full story at theranger.org.
