Caught in the Rye

by Niick Kowalczyk

As in Dragnet, names have been withheld for the innocents' sake. But the story is true.

Wednesday, 2:50 p.m. I took a deep sigh of relief when I realized my empty wallet could be refreshed with textbook return money. I'll have money to eat more than Ramen noodles, I thought.

But that pipedream clogged soon after I began my journey.

I started checking the buy-back rates because I soon needed to sell the seventh edition of A Concise Introduction to Logic by Patrick J. Hurley, a book most Philosophy 120 students use with a certain level of disgust.

The hot and heavy spring air caught my body like a glove when I left The Post. I inhaled deeply and tried to catch my breath. It was a scorcher.

I saw a ruckus near College Green. Children gleefully pranced and carried posters of dead fetuses while a preacher used the sidewalk as his pulpit. And plenty of students without anything better to do shouted back at him. Fools, I thought.

I entered the bookstore where I originally purchased my philosophical tome for $49.95. An explosion of air conditioning knocked breath back into my lungs.

Behind the imposing tables and cash registers blocking the textbook area, the clerk stared at me. I could tell he felt sorry for the financial rape he was about to impose.

The book for which I had paid about $50 would net a buyback of about $25. Ridiculous! Especially because the clerk said the book still sold for about $50.

So that means if 20 philosophy students sold back the book Wednesday, the bookstore would refund $500, and continue to sell those used books for $50. Why so much? The bookstores repeat such practices every quarter of every year. Aren't they rich enough?

2:55 p.m. Trekking onward to another bookstore, I nearly bumped into one of the nine impatient hooligans waiting at the BankOne ATM. Punk.

I can't blame him too much. He probably stood in the ATM line because couldn't get enough money for his books either.

The clear sky made the day bright, which made it easier to see all the girls who wore clothes that didn't flatter their bodies. Two jaywalkers also caught eyes, especially those of the driver who nearly mauled them.

Both jaywalkers carried book bags that I'd guess carried books they wanted to return. Unfortunately for them, the car didn't swipe them. A personal injury lawsuit would pad their pockets more than a trip to an unscrupulous bookstore.

2:58 p.m. The bookstore was nearly empty. A lone clerk stood at the counter without much to do. I went to check the sale price of my textbook - $50. The clerk said the bookstore would pay $20 for a buy-back. Bastards.

By this time I was angry.

The walk to the final bookstore was filled with the regular Athens absurdities. I smelled a hearty mix of sweet patchouli oil and incense near Import House, 21 S. Court St. And I inhaled the stale, uniquely grotesque stench that hugs the Union Street air when Perk's Coffee House & Roastery, 49 S. Court St., roasts its beans.

The echoing grind of the traffic as it whirled down Court Street briefly diverted my concentration from textbooks.

3:08 p.m. My hope for a fair deal nearly dissipated. But I entered my last stop with some leftover idealism. The beep that chimes as customers enter panged my optimism as I descended the stairs.

Another used version of the textbook cost $50.25. A clerk said the bookstore would offer me $19 for the buy-back. True greed.

3:12 p.m. I realized the bookstores are robber barons that will stop at nothing to cheat and overcharge Ohio University students. Greed is one word, but it carries three faces in Athens.

The stores offered me decent rates - decent for OU, I suppose - but those numbers will dwindle as finals week creeps ahead and more students return books. And it'll be tough to study for the exam without the book.

3:20 p.m. I re-considered an idea from my May 19 column that proposed to end the bookstores' stronghold on students.

Student and Faculty Senates are the two campus organizations that can change bookstore prices. They have the most power because they represent OU's most important groups - students and teachers.

Making prices reasonable and competitive is ultimately up to the bookstores. But students don't have to take it - and faculty can help.

Boycott the bookstores; photocopy all materials and create course packets rather than required texts; place readings in Alden Library's Reserve Room or the Duplication Station, 15 W. Union St.; create lists of students enrolled in classes so future students could buy books from them; or place readings online.

Damage their business and prices will become more reasonable.

Every OU student will face similar dilemmas with the bookstores next week.

And a problem that affects nearly 20,000 people deserves attention from student and faculty leaders.

Kowalczyk, who hopes readers appreciate his lack of sentimentality in his last column, can be reached at nk323298. Caught in the Rye used to run Fridays.