Mr.$200 Textbook(left) is slapped around by the Textbook Rebel(right). By Nelson Estrada
The Textbook Rebellion is a coalition dedicated to decreasing the price of textbooks for students. According to Nicole Allen, the National Textbook Campaign Director, this movement has been happening for almost a decade.
Although this movement started mostly as a way to inform and educate students, the Textbook Rebellion is now doing a cross-country campus tour to get enough petitions to begin legislation to limit the price control of publishing companies.
“We passed a federal law requiring more transparency in textbook pricing and requiring publishers to disclose the price of textbooks when they are marketing the books,” said Allen during an interview at UC Berkeley.
Allen suggests that the solution to the problem of rising textbooks is to inform faculty about inexpensive yet effective alternatives to traditional textbooks. Also, making sure that students are talking to their professors about the cost of the books they are assigning.
Despite the emergence of ebooks, Allen says that ebooks have failed to be a solution to drive down the prices of printed textbooks because of the restrictions on them and the lack of demand from faculty and students.
Below is a interview with Allen and her perspective on the issue.
