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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2004
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Contributed by Matt Milburn
Remnants of a broken light fixture rest on a backpack in 120 Budig Hall. A light fixture fell yesterday afternoon in the classroom during Earthquakes and Natural Disasters class.
Lightbulb temporarily halts class in Budig
A falling lightbulb may not be an earthquake or natural disaster, but it was what students were talking about in Geology 171 yesterday. The Earthquakes and Natural Disasters class was meeting in Budig 120 when a light bulb fell from the the ceiling and almost hit the students sitting near the front of the lecture hall, said Matt Milburn, Rogers, Ark., senior.
"It fell at least 75, maybe 100 feet," he said. "It was a little smaller than a basketball."
He said the class took a five-minute recess while maintenance workers cleaned up the mess.
There were no major injuries just a few jilted students, Milburn said.
"A guy near the front row had some scratches," Milburn said. "But he walked away okay."
Austin Caster
"Optimus magister bonus liber," goes the old Latin adage: "The best teacher is a good book." For generations of modern-day Latin students, that book has been "Wheelock's Latin."
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Revision of text debated
As the latest generation of students buy their Wheelock's in the coming weeks, they will discover a textbook that looks very different from the original, densely packed tome Professor Frederic Wheelock sketched out a half-century ago. There are photographs, maps and eyepleasing layouts. Exercises reflect the latest pedagogical theory. Readings feature fewer battlefield dispatches and more emphasis on women and everyday life. There is even a dirty poem by Catullus.
Wheelock's also has a Web site, e-mail discussion groups and, soon, online audio recordings.
"The times, they are a changing," says Richard LaFleur, the University of Georgia classicist who took over the editorship of the series in the mid-1990s following Wheelock's 1987 death. "We want to keep up with the changes."
Latin hasn't changed for 2,000 years. And where publishers see essential updates, critics of high textbook prices often wonder if new editions aren't just a ploy to raise prices.
why biology and accounting textbooks need frequent updating, by why algebra or ancient languages?
Unnecessary updates are "one of the biggest driving factors behind the high costs of textbooks," says Merriah Fairchild, higher education advocate at the California Public Interest Research Group.
Research Group. LaFleur says that many textbooks are updated too frequently, but that even Latin needs a fresh coat of paint sometimes. He and Wheelock's family say they have put out a new version about every five years, and pressed Harper Collins to keep the series affordable.
Textbook prices are a hot topic on college campuses and have prompted hearings on Capitol Hill. In January, a CALPIRG report found University of California students could expect to pay $898 per year for textbooks, up from $642 in 1996-97. The average price per new textbook was over $100. Three-quarters of faculty members surveyed believed new editions were usually unnecessary.
Publishers blame an unusual marketplace where they have just one year to earn back their investment; after that, students buy used copies and the publishers get nothing. That encourages frequent new editions.
Critics say they understand
frequent hitter.
"The basic business model is broken," says Al Greco, a Fordham University professor.
who follows the industry at the Book Industry Study Group. Greco doesn't believe publishers are price-gouging. Still, he concedes: "You could question whether there's a need to revise the calculus book, the U.S. history book, the Latin book every three years."
Revise they do. Even the death of an author may not derail a series, Anthony F. Janson took over the "History of Art" series after his father died in 1982. (The revised sixth edition, featuring more emphasis on religious art in the late Renaissance, was retailing for $95 this week in a downtown Boston bookstore). A rival, "Art Through the Ages" still carries author Helen Gardner's name on its 11th edition, 60 years after her death, and was retailing for $108.95, with CD-ROM, on Amazon.com.
While art books require expensive-to-print, color images, critics say that isn't true for other subjects. Calipirg has criticized frequent updates in calculus, a subject little-changed since Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton invented it in the 17th century.
In wheelock's case, Hulper Collins bought the title after the namesake's death and put out a fourth edition based on notes he left. LaFleur got involved by pointing out errors in that edition. Eventually, he and the family discussed his taking over the project.
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