Ivy League prof says universities ‘rip off’ students. Meanwhile, they spend MILLIONS on 'equity' salaries.
Professors of America’s higher education institutions from coast to coast are ripping off students, according to one Ivy League professor.
“Just like doctors who prescribe expensive medicine, [they] don’t feel the pain of buying a $211 book of uneven quality and no real use when the course is finished, wrote Columbia University Law School professor Timothy Wu, who called out his fellow professors for the “outlandish prices of the books [they] assign,” in a recent New York Times opinion piece.
“Having grown at many times the rate of inflation, the cost of a leading economics book can be over $250; a law school casebook plus supplement can cost $277,” Wu admits. “Adding to such prices is the dubious trend of requiring students to obtain digital access codes, averaging $100, to complete homework assignments.”
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According to Wu, professors help to “rip off” students. If a syllabus requires a book, what is stopping the professor from assigning more? On top of a $300 required textbook, course technology add-ons and workbooks bring the cost of books to hundreds of dollars just for one course.
Professors not only keep assigning the same book, but assign the latest edition, which is usually only available to purchase new.
“The average student spends over $1,000 on textbooks each year; some spend more, and at state-subsidized community colleges, the prices of the textbooks can compare with tuition,” Wu explains.
“The fact that professors choose and students buy destroys whatever power a competitive market might have to keep prices lower,” Wu asserts. “That, and a touch of greed — the author of one successful book has earned an estimated $42 million in royalties — is why textbook prices have increased over 1,000 percent since the 1970s,” he adds, referring to how professors author textbooks, which are then required reading for students, sometimes even their own students.
While students continue to pay an exorbitant amount of money for books and other materials not included in tuition, the very same institutions are spending millions in tuition money and taxpayer dollars.
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University of California, Los Angeles doles out $3.2 million annually on diversity salaries. Staff members work for the UCLA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion department, which is focused on “advancing the equity, diversity, and inclusivity of the campus.” But UCLA is just one of many campuses that spend millions annually on “equity” staff salaries.
Campus Reform analyzed the diversity salaries of all University of California campuses earlier in 2019, of which employees who work in campus “equity” offices were a part. University of Michigan professor Mark Perry also called attention to how his university spends $11 million per year on “diversicrat” salaries,” which includes employees who work in campus “equity” offices.
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