Protest Over Cost Of Textbooks Staged On Cal Campus
BERKELEY (CBS SF) - Students at the University of California at Berkeley protested the rising cost of textbooks Thursday and petitioned for more affordable solutions to be implemented on college campuses.
Textbook Rebellion, a national coalition calling for lower textbook prices, is touring the country and stopping at 40 college campuses, including UC Berkeley, said Nicole Allen, national textbook campaign director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Allen said students at colleges nationwide are expected to spend an average of $1,137 on textbooks this year.
Some participants were dressed as oversize textbooks, while Textbook Rebellion and CALPIRG volunteers discussed textbook affordability with students and faculty members and urged supporters to join the movement, Allen said.
"The intellectual property laws are changing. The petition calls on the publishers to lower their prices and faculty to use alternatives," Allen said.
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