ASSOCIATED STUDENTS
University of California, Santa Barbara
Senate Resolution
Subject: A Resolution in Support of Open Source Textbooks at UCSB
Author: Nawar Nemeh
Second: Mercedes Rodriguez
Number:
FPP:
Bill Type: Positional
Vote Required for Passage:
_______
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
recommends to the A.S. Senate that the following action be taken:
Pass As Written:
Pass With Amendments:
Do Not Pass:
Refer To Committee:
Recommended by a Vote Of:
Chairperson's initials:
STUDENT -SPONSORED LEGISLATION
Student Sponsor:
Student Co-Sponsor:
The Student-Sponsored Resolution Liaison
has insured that this StudentSponsored Resolution is correct in its form and adherence to the ASUCSB Legal Code.
Pass As Written:
Pass With Amendments:
Do Not Pass:
Refer To Ad-Hoc Committee:
FISCAL IMPACT
Amount:
$
Account:
A Resolution
In Support of Open Source Textbooks
Whereas: Textbook prices are increasing every year, making it harder for students to attend university, and;
Whereas: It is the responsibility of Associated Students to advocate for a more attainable, affordable, and accessible
education for all students, and;
Whereas: In a survey of 150 campuses and over 2,000 students, 65% of respondents said that they had decided
against buying a textbook simply because it was too expensive, and 55% said that they were concerned that the lack
of textbook was going to have an impact on their grade 1, and;
Whereas: Nearly half of students surveyed said that the textbook price impacted their choice in which/how many
classes to take a semester2, and;
Whereas: Textbook prices account for approximately 14% of the average cost of attending a 4-year university3,
and;
Whereas: Textbook prices account for approximately one trillion dollars of existing student loan debt4, and;
1
Senack, Ethan. "Report: Affordable Higher Education." Fixing the Broken Textbook Market. U.S. PIRG's. Web.
16 Nov. 2015. <http://www.uspirg.org/reports/usp/fixing-broken-textbook-market>.
2
ibid
3
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4
ibid
Whereas: According to a national study, the biggest cause in the rising cause of textbooks is the strained
relationship between buyer and consumer, where the student consumers have no influence over the publisher since
they are mandated to buy their textbooks regardless of price or quality5, and;
Whereas: Between the years of 2002 and 2012, textbook prices rose by 82% at three times the rate of inflation 6,
and;
Whereas: It is important to note that just five textbook companies control more than 80% of the publishing market,
creating a monopoly where they are protected from serious competition 7, and;
Whereas: 82% of students nationwide said that they would perform better in a class where textbooks were free
online and hard copies were a print alternative option,8 and;
Whereas: Textbook publishers come out with new editions every 3-4 years, and while the edits are not exactly
substantive, new editions cost around 12% more9, and;
Whereas: In a survey conducted by the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) chapter in UCSB,
almost 57% of students responded that they had used torrenting as a method to receive free textbooks over buying
them, and;
Whereas: In that same survey, over 45% of students said that they had photocopied substantial parts of a textbook
instead of buying it, and;
Whereas: Textbook rentals and used textbook options have proven to slightly reduce the cost of purchasing
textbooks for classes, they have done little to create a dent in the corporate monopoly over textbook publishing10,
and;
Whereas: Open Source textbooks are faculty-written and peer-reviewed in the same way as a traditional textbook,
but are published under an open license, making them free to download 11, and;
Whereas: A study conducted at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, found that if students were assigned simply
one open source textbook a semester, that would generate around $6 million in student savings a year 12, and;
Whereas: The California Legislature has allocated around $3,000,000 specifically for California public universities
to develop Open Source textbooks13, and;
Whereas: Adopting an open source system would save the University thousands of dollars in financial aid that can
now be reallocated towards other parts of the budget requiring the University’s immediate attention, and;
Whereas: 30% of UCSB students report having been assigned an open source textbook at some point in their
academic career, meaning that it is completely feasible and equally beneficial to use an open source textbook over a
traditional licensed one, and;
Whereas: Students will still have the choice to print their textbooks for a much cheaper price, since they won’t be
paying any fees for the use of the book, only it’s printing, and;
Whereas: We want to ensure that we respect, protect, and uphold academic freedom within the faculty of this
university, and we want to make sure that this project does not impeded on that freedom, and;
5
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7
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8
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9
Senack, Ethan. "Report:." Affordable Textbooks: A Policy Guide. U.S. PIRG's. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.studentpirgs.org/reports/sp/affordable-textbooks-policy-guide>.
10
ibid
11
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12
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13
Assem, Bill 798. 2015-2016. California.
6
Whereas: This project incentives and provides avenues for professors to publish their textbooks under an open
source license, or allows them to browse hundreds of faculty-written, peer-reviewed textbooks to utilize for their
classroom, and;
Whereas: Professors will still be compensated for their work under federal, state, and campus based grant programs
that provide incentives for faculty to write open source textbooks, and;
Whereas: Some might express concerns over the loss of profits for the campus bookstore, but that can be remedied
by the fact that the campus bookstore gets a small percentage of the profits of the textbooks since most of that profit
goes directly to the publisher, and;
Whereas: A.S. Publications could directly benefit from this by printing out open source textbooks for students, and;
Whereas: Open licenses are best suited for students since they are worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive,
perpetual, irrevocable copyright licenses granting the public permission to access, reproduce, publicly perform,
publicly display, adapt, distribute, and otherwise the work and adaptations of the work for any purpose; conditioned
solely on the requirement that the proper attribution be given to authors as designated, and;
Whereas: Members of the UCSB chapter of CalPIRG have been working with Associated Students on gradually
implementing this project.
Therefore let it be resolved by the Associated Students in the Senate assembled: That the students of the
University of California, Santa Barbara support the implementation of open source textbooks within classes offered
at the University, and;
Let it therefore also be resolved that: The Associated Students Senate encourages faculty to adopt open source
textbooks within their classrooms to ensure that all students have access to their learning materials regardless of
socioeconomic status, and;
Let it therefore also be resolved that: The Associated Students Senate encourages the Faculty Executive
Committees of the College of Letters & Science, the College of Creative Studies, and the College of Engineering to
encourage their faculty to adopt open source textbooks and to provide incentives and logistical support for those
programs, and;
Let it therefore also be resolved that: The Associated Students Senate also encourages the Academic Senate
Council on Research and Instructional Resources to adopt and facilitate the use of open source textbooks, and;
Let it therefore finally be resolved that: The Associate Students Senate asks the Chancellor, the Vice-chancellors,
and members of the administration and faculty, to support and encourage the use of open source textbooks at the
University of California, Santa Barbara.
CC:
Jimmy Villareal
president@as.ucsb.edu
Kum-Kum Bhavnani
bhavnani@ucsb.edu
Cynthia S. Kaplan
kaplan@polsci.ucsb.edu
Daryl Cooper
cooper@math.ucsb.edu
Shivkumar Chandrasekaran
shiv@ece.ucsb.edu