Textbook Inquiry Continues

Carden met with Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for auxiliary services, Tuesday but the math major from Greensboro is not satisfied with the status of the issue.

After reportedly encountering some hostility from University officials, Carden said he was finally able to get an apology about the mishap from Elfland.

Elfland said she will follow up on the issue with other officials and discuss options for addressing the situation.

"We both agree that we want to reduce the number of errors in marking books.

"I plan to explore the way it is done now and process ways to reduce the number of errors," Elfland said.

"(Carden and I) had a good exchange of viewpoints and information, and I told him I would find out the answers to his questions," she said.

But Carden said his meeting with Elfland did not produce any concrete solutions to the problem with mis-labeled books.

He said Elfland will contact him next week to discuss her findings on the situation.

Last week, Student Stores Director John Jones said the markings could have been made by the publishers or simply were mistakes and that checking prices was a task Student Stores doesn't have the resources for.

Jones said earlier this week that such mix-ups are rare and Student Stores already has a system of compensation.

And Elfland said she saw no need to hire more people to work in Student Stores just to hand-check every book to make sure they are all labeled correctly.

But Carden disagrees that Student Stores shouldn't hire a larger staff. "Maybe it would be a good idea to take some of the profits (made by Student Stores) and hire more people so the problem does not persist," he said.

Elfland and Carden also voiced some opposing views of the motivations behind Student Stores.

"There is not any intention by Student Stores to rip off students by using a new book price for a used book. I do not think it is something that happens regularly," Elfland said.

But Carden thinks the problem should be eliminated quickly and completely, regardless of whether it could be the fault of the publishing company.

"People are getting ripped off. (Elfland) said that the return policy is just to refund the difference, and she thinks that is a good solution to the problem," Carden said.

"I don't think there should be a problem at all."

Elfland said she hopes to see more accuracy in the future but that she does not feel it is a huge concern for the student body because it is not a recurring problem.

But Carden said the problem never should have happened because Student Stores should always be looking out for the students.

"It's not something students should have to worry about," he said.

"You expect to buy a book, and if you are paying a new book price, you expect it to be new and in good condition."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.