Cooperative Injustice

On Tuesday I went to the Coop for a biannual tradition: comparison shopping.

I take a look at the books I need at the Coop, write down the prices, and search online when I get back to my dorm to see if the used book at the Coop beats Amazon, Half.com or Crimsonreading.org. I’ve done this for four semesters now, and nobody has bothered me about it.

Until now. I was standing in front of the books for my Social Studies junior tutorial, seeing what books they had used, which were only new, and what they were charging, when a Coop employee informed me of a new policy: Apparently I’m not allowed to take notes.

When questioned, he admitted that they instituted the policy because students were finding that books were cheaper elsewhere, and consequently ordered the books online. The Coop was losing money. I insisted that was our right, that the Coop can’t have a monopoly, and that this practice was effectively infringing upon our rights as consumers in a capitalist nation to yield the benefits of competition. I said it was illegal. He demurred.

Now, while perhaps the policy isn’t in fact illegal—the Coop as a private business has a right to refuse service to me—it certainly flies in the face of what the Coop should stand for as an integral member of our community.

Every year the prices at the Coop get more ridiculous, and students fight back more vigorously, but until now, that fight was a fair one (and that’s not even counting coursepacks). We’ve all been in situations where the same book is priced differently in the textbook section as it is in the actual bookstore. We’ve all had friends that had to pay $50 for a coursepack no thicker than a quarter of an inch. And frankly, we are tired.

I believe that this policy will end up hurting the Coop more than it helps them. One of two things will happen as a result of this change:

1) Students will assume the Coop is more expensive and simply buy all of their books online instead of comparing prices and splitting the purchases amid various places.

or

2) Students will have their friends quietly tell them over the phone the prices of each book as they simultaneously shop on Amazon or will memorize four prices at a time and write them down just outside the building.

Either way, this policy will not benefit the Coop, and instead, will further tarnish the bookstore’s image in the mind of the College community.

Compare this with the services that Tufts and Boston University (which both employ Barnes and Noble, along with the Coop) offer students. At both institutions, a student can shop online and see the reading list for each class along with the prices for new and used copies.

This service, above and beyond administrative support for Crimsonreading.org or reduced prices for coursepacks, is what we ultimately desire. An online system, well organized, and intended to promote competition is the baseline standard we deserve. Why does the Harvard Coop, which also employs Barnes and Nobles, not allow online shopping?

For all the administrative talk of lessening the financial burden many students face, Harvard has still been surprisingly resistant to change the status quo in this regard. I am taking two classes this semester which require students to purchase a coursepack (still not available online) in addition to multiple books. The prices for these coursepacks: $203 and $170. Lucky for me, my fantastic parents often reimburse me for my book expenditures. For students, rich and poor, who are paying out of pocket, this is simply unacceptable.

Ronald K. Anguas ’08, one of the elected student representatives on the Coop Board of Directors, declined to comment on the situation. I call on all of our student representatives to act to reverse the Coop’s policy against taking notes.

Harvard has reason to be proud of an organization such as the Coop, begun by students in 1882 that has remained specifically tailored to the Harvard and MIT communities. But if unreasonable policies and astronomical costs are the price we pay (pun unintended), the time has come for students to find a new and better option.

Jarret A. Zafran ’09 is a social studies concentrator in Leverett House.