Everyone who has taken any college classes is probably familiar with the ordeal of purchasing textbooks. Some books can cost in excess of a hundred dollars while the full textbook requirements for some classes can cost a student two or three hundred dollars total. Presumably these books are chosen by the professor because he feels that they are the best and most appropriate for that class in that subject — but what if that isn't the only factor in such choices?
The average student spends over four hundred dollars a year in textbooks, but students in some specialities can spend much more. They go into this assuming that the purchase of the texts is the right thing to do and that they were chosen for good reasons, but sometimes there is quite a lot going on behind the scenes that should make students think twice.
One of the most egregious, pioneered by North West Publishing, involves nothing less than a bribe or a kick-back for professors who agree to adopt one of the company's books for a class and make students buy them. Professors at colleges and universities all over the country received letters offering them $4,000 for simply reviewing a text — a princely sum which exceeds what many make in a single month.
Who wouldn't be tempted by such an offer? But there was a catch: North West didn't simply want a review, they wanted the book actually adopted so that students would buy it. They claimed that professors could get the cash even if the text were not adopted, but reporters for the Chronicle were unable to obtain such a list. In the end, a number of professors did agree to use the text. They took the money and forced their students to buy the book, regardless of whether something better might have been available.
Was this ethical? Absolutely not. This was a bribe, no question about it. These professors betrayed the trust of their students by abusing their positions of power and authority in order to acquire money they did nothing to earn. Who paid? The students, of course — they paid the publisher directly, the professor indirectly, and they paid with their education because they didn't necessarily get the best possible text for their class.
These professors not only owe their students and their employers a humble apology, it's questionable whether they should be allowed to continue on teaching at the same institutions. They knew that what they were doing was wrong and while many are now sorry about it, some aren't. Those that aren't sorry do not, quite frankly, deserve to ever hold such a position of trust and authority again.
Unfortunately, while this case may be the most egregious out there, it isn't the only instance where professors have cashed in on the basis for their positions. What North West has done may be ethically deplorable, but it is only a continuation of a very sordid and sleazy relationship that publishers have been developing with certain professors over the course of many years.
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