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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                Matt Dulin                  Chris Elliott                        Robyn Morrow 
                                Johnny Peña                 Kristen Young

Textbook debate: Shared governance at work 

Many UH professors are widely recognized as experts in their fields, and that expertise helps them make a little more money through writing textbooks. But when professors use the materials they wrote in their own classes, a possible conflict of interest emerges.

Because of that possibility, Provost Donald Foss has been working with the Faculty Senate to develop a set of rules regulating the use of textbooks and other faculty-produced materials. Most of the proposed policies are endorsed by the Faculty Senate, except for one, which would require a professor to get his or her textbook approved by a committee before royalties can be earned off it from UH students. The book would be judged on whether it meets national standards. 

This is abhorrent to some professors, who value academic freedom -- the freedom to choose whatever textbook is used in the classroom without having to submit it to a committee, even if it is just to gain the right to earn royalties on that book. 

At this point in the debate, the provost doesn't really have to do anything to get all of the faculty members on his side. He can more or less just write a memo and make the proposal the new rule. The fact that he's openly discussing the issue with professors and seeking some kind of solution tells us that shared governance is alive and well at UH. 

In years past, the Faculty Senate complained that the administration was not receptive to its concerns and did not welcome it in the decision-making process. One of the reasons the Senate lauded UH President Jay Gogue's appointment in 2003 was that he was a vocal advocate of shared governance. 

The issue over textbook royalties is obviously going to be divisive, not just because it deals with money going into professors' pocketbooks, but also because it deals with something perhaps more important: the classroom. 

This is a serious test of shared governance, and the faculty should at least appreciate the chance to disagree and affect policy.