Hello UCalgary,
President Frank here, asking for your input on the issue of campus bookstore privatization.
The University of Calgary is currently considering the privatization of operations for the campus bookstore. Currently, the campus bookstore is run by the University and is not a for-profit enterprise. However, the University has now approached Follett, an American company that runs many campus bookstores across North America under a for-profit model. No contract has been signed at this time. Regardless of whether this company is brought onto campus or not, changing the business model of the campus bookstore will impact students.
To date, the University of Calgary has made several verbal assurances: that students will not be forced to purchase from the bookstore, textbook markups will not increase, and that students will still be able to purchase second-hand books from Bound & Copied, for example. We will be fighting to have these assurances written in enforceable contracts, and although we have many concerns, these are nonetheless positive steps that have resulted directly from the advocacy of your SU. However, we the SU still have many other concerns related to the privatization of bookstore operations, such as the fate of student employees, a decrease in the quality of service, or other increases in costs.
As the SU continues to advocate for the best interests of undergraduate students, we wanted to better understand student perspectives on the bookstore issue. Please take five minutes to fill out this survey to help the SU better represent student perspectives through advocacy efforts on campus. The survey will be open until 4:30 p.m., Friday, May 7.
Thank you,
Frank Finley
[button link=”https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_0q8O06wbdozFOn4″]Begin Survey[/button]