over the eDge. Wednesday, 6 September. 1995 - page 4

Editorial

Book Buy Back

Mailbox

ka. Student Ripoff

By Doug Smith

It’s that time of year
again for all students to buy
new books and get rid of the
old ones. Buying them is

v simple enough, but this story

is about selling them and how
difficult it is to get a decent
return of the cash the student
has invested in last year’s
books. Our friends in the
bookstore,with the help of
the Nebraska Book
Company, offer a_ service
which makes getting rid of
unwanted books fast and
easy. There is just one
problem: IT’S A TOTAL
RIPOFF!

Let’s just take a
simple example of how the
student loses out and the
bookstore makes out like a
bandit. Let’s call this student
Ms. X. At the beginning of
the year Ms. X-buys a brand
new book for 75 dollars. At
the end of the semester Ms. X
no longer needs this book, so
she decides to sell it. She

takes it back to the bookstore
A: and receives a minuscule

‘amount of 35 dollars (about
50%). Ms. X decides to take
the money, feeling
completely ripped off. Now
the bookstore has this used
book which can be resold.
Next semester the book is put
back on the shelf with a

“used” sticker on it, but it
now sells for 55 dollars.
Think about it: Ms. X is out
40 dollars, but the bookstore
can now make 130 dollars by
selling the same book twice.

If that isn’t bad
enough for you, look out ~
when your books become
obsolete. New editions of
textbooks are coming out all
the time. If it is decided that
a new edition of a textbook
will be used next semester
and you want to sell the older
one, you’re out even more
money. The bookstore will
still take your outdated book,
but the cash return is much
lower. You'll get maybe
20% to 30% percent of the
price you paid.

Does all this sound
fair to you? Before you yell
out “NO WAY,” think again.
You have very few
alternatives. Maybe you
could sell it personally, but
you have to advertise it
yourself which costs time and
sometimes money. Your last
option is to keep your books
and start a personal library,
but you won’t get any cash
and soon you’ll run out of
space in your home or
residence. Let’s face it you’ll
be lucky to get squat for your
books and you’!I have to take
it.

(for women only)

Gender Equity

Editor,

against men (talk shows and Wy store
magazines come to mind), yet is constantly fails
to adequately portray the male side of the issue.
If Cosmopolitan did an article titled “How to get
Your Women to Want More Sex”, there would
undoubtedly be a big controversy among
women’s groups; after all, it’s portraying
women as sex objects, right? But it’s okay when
it’s about men. I doubt Cosmopolitan received

at which we are not welcome. there are high
school scholarships and bursaries which do not
apply to males ( I have yet to see one which does
not apply to a female). Even our language is
changing (I don’t know whether to call some
people women or wimmin, or just plain mean.)
Solely because of our gender, we are being

When was the last time that you leafed
through a course selection newspaper and
noticed a “Men’s Studies” class? Or saw a flyer
for a rally sponsored by a masculist group? How
long has it been since you saw a case of male

sexual harassment on the news? Probably never,
yet it seems to me that in a society that is
“progressing toward gender equality” that these
occurrences should be as commonplace as their
feminist counterparts. The problem is that too
much of the women’s lib. movement is taking
the wrong approach. Don't get me wrong; I
firmly believe that centuries of oppression and
sexism certainly warrant a change in society’s
treatment of women. but it seems to me that this
is occurring while our more feminist society’s
distaste for men increases. This is wrong, and
many men (including myself) are beginning to
feel: the subtle strain'of our own exclusion. In
our own University, there are clubs and classes

looked upon in a different way, and treated
differently, that women. This is the very root of
sexism, and it’s becoming far too fashionable.
Yet the problem continues to go ignored, it
not unnoticed. Even our very justice system is
not immune. In a sexual harassment or assault
trial, in the eyes of most women (including
jurors), the male is guilty until proven innocent.
In a legal custody case following a divorce, the
vast majority of rulings favour the mother (often
even if the father is deemed better financially
stable). And even if the father does win custody,
have you ever heard of a mother paying
alimony? I haven’t.
The media has had a frenzy with sexism

one letter of complaint.

As I progress through University toward my
degree and on toward my chosen fields, I can’t
help but wonder how many doors will be shut to
me because of my gender. How many jobs will
go to a less quaified woman in the interest of
“gender equity’? How many cold stares will I
receive as I hold a door open for a woman? How
many episodes of perfectly good Ricki Lake will
be wasted on man bashing? I don’t know, but if
social trends continue, I might just find myself
wishing one day that I had better invested my
tuition money on a sex change operation...

John Makowichuk