The_Rambler_1975-09-29

              Funded by your Mandatory Activity Fee as distributed by the S.G.A.
IS BOOKSTORE CRITICISM JUSTIFIED? S.G.A.
BOOK EXCHANG
The Farmingdale bookstore
is traditionally the butt of
many campus jokes told by
both the students and the
faculty. Everyone likes to
tell t h e i r own personal story
about the inefficient and^
inept book store.
Students complain for '
hours about the over-pricing
of books and the long lines
that are everpresent every
first week of school. The
teachers also indulge in this
activity and do their best to
convince the students of the
b o o k s t o r e ' s demon like
quality. No longer shall any
of t h i s go on, for RAMBLER
can and will prove the
bookstore to be an efficient
organization which has the
students best interest in
mind. In the beginning, we
were convinced that there
was a secret slush fund or
kickback system operating
in the bookstore, thus caus-i
n g high p r i c e s a nd
c a r l e s s n e s s among its em-ployees.
We a r e happy to say
that we found nothing that
could even remotley support
these suspicions. By con-ducting
interviews with
D o n a l d Mackenzie
Bookstore Manager, and
Donald Kelton, Executive
Director of the FS. A., Ram-bler
obtained valuable in-formation.
We have also
found t h a t it is much easier to
c o m p l a i n t h a n o f f er
constructive solutions To
s t a r t off with, lets look at the
history of the bookstore. It is
one of the oldest buildings on
campus and has served
m a n y p u r p o s e s . The
bookstore, less the walls and
divisions, was once a gym. It
was also, at v a r i o us
i n t e r v a l s a recretion center
and then a l i b r a r y . Up until
1967, the bookstore was used
as a l i b r a r y . Books used to be
sold in two rooms atLupton
Hall Wlien the l i b r a ry moved
t o W h i t m a n Hall, t he
bookstore moved into its
present location. So even
though the building is old,
the bookstore is in a
relativley new location.
The bookstore's biggest
problem seems to be the long
lines that are present the
first two weeks of school. As
most students now know, one
has to wait at least one hour
in order to buy books. Once
inside the bookstore, the
student must wait on a chec-kout
line for an average of
ten minutes. Because of a
lack of space, everyone
seems to be on each others
back. Thus, tempers rise and
complaints drastically in-crease.
During the 1st week
rush, the book store adopts
measures to ease the long
wait. The store is normally
open: M-TH: 9-4 plus 5:9:00.
Friday: 94. During the rush
the store is open from 8a.m.
to 9p.m. without interuption.
It also s t a y s open on tjie f i r st
t w o S a t u r d a y s of t h e
semester, which is not the
standard procedure for the
store. Don Mackenzie also
hires extra people to deal
with the situation. The store
ussually has a staff of twelve
people, but students are
hired as packers and stock
persons. The extra people
work short shifts and a re
paid nominally As noted
previously, the lines stay
consistently long during the
rush period. Don Machenzie
feels that additional cash
r e g i s t e r s would reduce the
lines signifigantly. There
a r e p r e s e n t l y s i x c a sh
r e g i s t e r s for 8,000 d ay
students In comparison with
other schools, the bookstore
appears to be adaquate. Nas-sau
Community College has
less students, but 7 cash
registers. The store is 40x100
and has only one register for
the regular school year. The
lines at N.C.C. last for
almost two full weeks. After
this time, the six additional
r e g i s t e r s are removed.
Dear Students:
Now that you are all set-tled,
you don't have to wait on
anymore lines, and you know
where all the buildings are,
maybe it is time you should
start t h i n k i n g about someth-ing
else beside your classes.
Did you know that there are
over 40 clubs on campus,
there is v i r t u a l l y something
for everyone in the way of a
club here at Farmingdale.
Not every club is made for
every student, which is why
there i s such a wide variety.
if you are interested in a
challenge, being in on where
it all happens, and concerned
about your fellow students,
why not take a look at the
Student Government As-sociation.
If you think you
m i g h t be i n t e r e s t e d in
becoming a part of SGA,
please come to the SGAmeet-ing
room in Roosevelt Hall
o n e i t h e r T u e s d a y,
September 30th at 11:00 a.m.,
or Wednesday, October 1st at
6:00 p.m. There are many
positions open covering all
aspects of student social and
academic life. F o r a n i n d e p th
look at what positions are
open, please come to either
meeting where everything
will be explained in detail.
Please get involved. I wish
everyone a successful year.
Mark D. Natelson President
Student Oovej^nment As-sociation
Bulletin boards in the hall s are
cluttered with papers offer-ing
books like "Buisiness
Law" for $7,00 (originally
14.00) with phone numbers
which can be called to set up
a meeting for a t r a n s a c t i o n.
This involves a lot of time
and a g g r a v a t i o n which could
be avoided by u s i n g the
S,G,A, bookstore located in
Roosevelt Hall, Here you
can buy used books at low
prices. These books a re
brought in by students who
set their own prices. After
the book is sold, t h ey redeem
t h e i r tickets and receive all
^ut 10 percent of the price the
book was sold for. If the book
h a s n ' t been sold they get the
book back.
The ten percent goes to the
S.G.A. to cover rnailing and
p r i n t i n g costs. It a l so goes
toward the s a l a r y of one full
time employee. She is paid
$3.00 per hour. The S,G.A.
doesen't make any money on
the deal: last year it lost
$700.00. I t i s j u s t a s e i - v i c e f or
the students.
The Alpha Tau Sigma
provided g i r l s to help out the
exchange. The S.G.A. also
gavfc hem a small donation
for t h e i r time.
This is only the second
semester that the book
e x c h a n g e has been in
progress and so t h e r e is still
some confusion.
One of t h e f i r s t problems is
that not enough students
know about the exchange.
Even though c i r c u l a r s were
sent home to all students and
the Rambler devoted space to
it, many students were
unaware that there was an
exchange. Next semester
more students will probably
know about it and use it to a
greater extent.
A n o t h e r is t h a t t he
students have a hard time
finding the exchange itself.
This should be remedied next
semester by the use of
guides.
There is also a shortage of
help d u r i n g peak periods of
ll:00and 5:00 when students
a r e free. The girls in the
s o r o r i t y didn't have assigned
times to come in, which left
gaps when there was a
shortage of help.
Professors often change
t h e i r book requirements
f r om year to y e a r . A used
book store obviously cannot
have new editions. Students
must go to the College Book
Store as they must do for
workbooks.
Many people just don't
pick up the cash or books in
time. In this case the books
or money go to the SGA.If
any books are lost, the SGA
will compensate for them,
Cewr'Dp. 3
cont'd on f>-3