2008 Woodie Awards
SB 832 rally held
Angela De Claro
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: News
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The Cesar Chavez court was busy with activity of a different crowd than normal last Thursday.
Camera people, journalists, students, and a couple representatives of a few college political groups all mingled with each other and talked about the outrageous textbook prices.
Everyone was waiting to hear about Senate Bill no. 832 supported by Sen. Corbett.
Other speakers included Chabot College President Robert Carlson, former Faculty Senate President Chard Mark Glen, ASCC Legislative Director Sophia Mendoza, California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) representative Sarah Depjenksy, and Bookstore Manager Kathleen Kaser.
Senate Bill no. 832 aims at reducing the costs of college textbooks.
The bill has passed through legislature and only needs Gov. Schwarzenegger's signature to be passed into law.
According to CALPIRG, the average student spends $900 a year on books.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that the cost of textbooks and supplies for a full-time student at a two-year public institution is 72 percent of tuition alone.
Sen. Corbett, a former teacher at Chabot College, expressed her concern about students' financial needs.
As a teacher who worked on campus, she saw the direct impact that the high textbook prices had on her students.
Corbett can still remember specific students who had to drop-out of her political science classes because they were unable to buy the book.
President Carlson also has first-hand experiences of seeing students drop-out because of financial needs.
Carlson said, "If you don't know, I take classes here at Chabot once in a while…I remember in a couple of my classes, I saw students with no books three to four weeks within the course.
"When they were not able to keep up with the class because they had no book, they would drop. [These days] if you can't buy a textbook, you can't compete in class."
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