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The Rice Thresher
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by Esther Sung Thresher staff The Campus Store shrank this year, but its makeover may not be over just yet. President Malcolm Gillis created an ad hoc committee on the Rice Campus Store last spring, chaired by Psychology Professor Jim Pomerantz, to examine some of the issues the store faces. "We have been asked ... to look into all aspects of the Campus Store and present him with our thoughts," Pomerantz said. The committee, which includes faculty, administrators, graduate students and undergraduate students, will investigate four areas concerning the store: organization, location, outside contracting, and finance. Some students have grumbled about the current situation at the store, saying books for many fall classes are not available. "They don't have any books," Sid Richardson College senior Brooke Wheeler said. "I think it's ridiculous that you can't get books when you need them for your classes. I'm in a huge class - Immuno[biology] - and at least a third of the people don't have their books yet." Several options the committee is considering to improve the bookstore include creating an online bookstore, outsourcing to a commercial bookstore, expanding the current space or moving to another location. "We have had four or five proposals [in past years] from people who do bookstores for campuses," committee member Neill Binford, associate vice president for finance and administration, said. "We are considering outsourcing to Barnes & Noble or Follett like so many campuses have done." The committee will also consider how to integrate purchasing textbooks with Web-based class registration, which will be implemented in the next couple of years, for students in the future. "The college book market is a volatile business these days, with further changes coming as electronic technologies develop," Pomerantz said. Although the location of the Campus Store is also an important issue, the committee will most likely outline the necessary features of a potential site rather than suggest a definite location. The size of the Campus Store was reduced when the convenience store was built over the summer. The convenience store occupies the space where the Campus Store cashiers were last year. Also, Kinko's moved into a space in the basement of the bookstore. In order to gain a better understanding of what issues are important for the Campus Store, the committee will consult the university community, Pomerantz said. "We plan over the next several weeks to conduct surveys that would include students, staff and faculty as respondents," he said. Pomerantz added that course materials are not the only consideration for the committee. "Textbooks and related scholarly materials comprise only a portion of the Campus Store's products and services provided to the campus, so we must address the other portions as well in our recommendation," he said. Pomerantz said he hopes the committee will improve the store as much as possible. "The members of our committee believe that the Campus Store provides a vital function to Rice University," he said. "We hope to capitalize on new developments that can make the store serve us better while preserving those traditional qualities that have served us well over the years." The members of the committee are Psychology Professor Jim Pomerantz, Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration Neill Binford, Economics Professor John Bryant, French Studies Professor Deborah Harter, University Librarian and interim Chief Information Officer Chuck Henry, Jones School Professor David Ikenberry, Director of Athletics Bobby May, Hanszen College junior Merritt McAlister, Mathematics Professor John Polking and Graduate Student Association President Elle Marie Schollnberger.
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