At 02:55 PM 1/15/2003, Jerrold Zar wrote:
so, what you are saying is that this is really not an issue ... except in some rare casesOK, I may give a brief response to the list.I really don't see this as being a great big enforcement deal. At my university, I am unaware of additional expenditures generated by these conflict-of-interest policies, nor am I aware of professors making lots of money from their students in unethical fashion.
but, if we had on the books that NO professor could use his/her book in a course he/she is teaching UNless the "profits" went into some "non prof" fund ... this has to be managed ... monitored ... and enforced ... who will do this? a rule/policy means monitoring for compliance and ... a bureaucratic mechanism for enforcement and, that has to = some expenditure of $$$ to implement the system and keep it humming
i think the more sensible policy would be that this is acceptable UNless some threshold line has been reached ... ie, related to course size ... or volume over the year ... etc. ... it would be immensely easier to track the few exceptions than ... try to monitor the entire system
in the case of textbooks ... there are at least 3 separate issues:
1. is the book a reasonable book to require in a course?
2. is the book a product of the faculty member teaching the course?
3. are there "profits" generated from the use of the book and, where do they go?
if the answer to #1 is no ... no matter who wrote the book ... it should not be used
BUT, WHO DETERMINES THIS? AT MOST UNIVERSITIES ... NO ONE REALLY PAYS ANY ATTENTION TO THIS (maybe they should ... but they don't ... since departments ask faculty what book they will be using and, whatever is on the list is forwarded to the bookstore for their processing)
if the answer to #1 is yes ... then we can move to #2
if the answer to #2 is yes ... then it seems to me that it still is a legitimate book to (possibly) use in the course ... it certainly does not exclude it
if we answer yes to #2 and ... move to #3 ... then the question is ... how large of a volume of "profits" would it take before we think that using it in the course and also garnering $$$ would suggest that this is not an appropriate thing to do?
this of course would be a value judgement and, to arbitrarily say that NO level of $$$ would be low enough to let the faculty member gain those $$$ ... seems totally without merit and, that the $$$ should go into some non faculty member fund to benefit students/ or whatever ... who decides who gets those $$$ benefits?
what is fair here is a complex of issues: what is fair to students in terms of assigning to them appropriate instructional materials? what is fair to the author ... who might be the instructor? what is fair to the institution to keep them from looking like they are allowing, on a regular and encouraged basis, unseemly practices?
in many instances, the books that professors write are a direct outgrowth of how that course they are teaching has been defined within the departmental structure ... and hence, the actual writing of it is precisely the kind of instruction that the department wants for that course ... why should the textbook writer .... be penalized for that? ie ... their efforts (royalties) are funneled to people/projects that had nothing to do with the effort that went into the development of the product?
i am fully willing to agree that the matter being addressed here is complicated ... it is not cut and dried ... but, having said that, i am not willing to believe that the best policy or correct policy (due to possible conflicts of interest) is to either BAN the use of a faculty member's book in his or her courses OR say, they can but, he or she must give the profits (if there ARE even any) to some other entity ...
however, if there is a policy ... it should be never to allow a faculty member's book or manual to be used in a course he/she is teaching (and maybe within that program or department too, even if the faculty member is NOT teaching the course) ... the mere fact that profits are moved from the author to some other place does NOT mean that one could say nothing unethical has occurred ... it would be easy to write a manual for a large course ... and then funnel the "profits" into some departmental activity ... that should have been underwritten by the institution ... now it is put on the backs of the students ... just because they happen to be in THAT course (we have already done this far too often ... instead of printing and handing out a syllabus for a course, we post it online and say, if you want it ... YOU print it: ie, you incur the cost)
unless there are situations (like i have mentioned before) where the overall volume of books and students is large ... and, keep coming in on a regular basis like "windfall" profits ... then worrying about this or having any monitoring or enforcement mechanisms in place ... to apply to all faculty in all courses ... is a bad allocation of our bureaucratic time ... and overkill
just my opinion
The disparity among salaries in various disciplines is irrelevant,
well, we could examine this in the context of ethical practice ... just like any other issue ... but, for the moment ... all i was suggesting is that the differentials that regularly occur ... as institutional accepted practice ... overshadows the kinds of "profits" that most faculty would make selling their own books to students in their classes ... thus, in that context, is a rather trivial matter
the idea is that faculty are getting "rich" by making their students use the faculty member's book ... and, we know that in the vast majority of cases ... this just is not the case
as one of my excellent profs said many moons ago ... about a book he wrote that was part of a series ... about his "profits" ... he was lucky to get enough to buy a good bottle of scotch ...
most textbook writers are not into it for the $$$ profit ... because they know ... that the gain in $$$ compared to the hours expended to produce the book ... is miniscule
.
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