As of this fall, IU students will face many changes, ranging from new courses to another incoming freshman class. But there is another modification in store for students, faculty and staff this September - Barnes & Noble is running all campus bookstores.

The decision to privatize bookstores on all seven IU-administered campuses was made last May by university President Adam Herbert, despite concerns voiced by Mayor Mark Kruzan, along with members of the Monroe County Council and the Bloomington City Council.

Many IU employees and community members also worry about the outsourcing of bookstore services. Concerns range from possible increased prices, a lack of job stability for bookstore staffers and the overall trend toward outsourcing nonacademic services provided by the school.

The switch will impact a total of 197 bookstore staffers.

Peter Kaczmarczyk, president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 4730, said provisions in the contract between Barnes & Noble and IU will allow for current full-time workers to receive the same level of wages, as well as the same benefits. But it is likely that, over time, Barnes & Noble will replace these employees with new staffers who are not covered by the agreement.

"I expect that we will see over time that Barnes & Noble employees will no longer be getting those wages and benefits," Kaczmarczyk said. "I'm not going to say anything necessarily good or bad about Barnes & Noble, but they're driven by the bottom line, and if they can decrease costs by decreasing employee benefits, they will."

Though the board of trustees did not vote on the decision to outsource the bookstore, they did discuss the matter, said Patrick Shoulders, the vice president of the board. According to Shoulders, most board members supported the decisionbecause of the economic benefits that would come with outsourcing.

"The key mission of Indiana University is teaching and learning, and we are in times in which there are scarce dollars to fulfill this goal," Shoulders said.

He maintained that the board saw the outsourcing as "something that could create needed cash and that could free up millions of dollars from Barnes & Noble that could then be redirected to other campus needs."

Barnes & Noble paid an up-front signing bonus of $5.5 million. The contract also calls for annual scholarships and donations totaling $850,000; an annual operating payment of $5 million, regardless of bookstore performance; and an additional $1.38 million contribution for a new facility near Assembly Hall.
Despite the influx of money created by the deal, Shoulders was initially concerned by the lack of school control and the preservation of good jobs and dedicated employees.

However, the contract with Barnes & Noble allows the school to fulfill "great facility needs," as "repair and rehabilitation money has suffered in many of the recent budgets," Shoulders said.

Patrick Brantlinger, IU's James Rudy professor emeritus of English, is concerned by the university's decision to outsource the bookstore.

Among his chief concerns are increasing prices, the trend toward the corporatization of the university and not enough books being in stock.

"With just two companies - Barnes & Noble and Follett - doing privatized bookstores, we're talking about a monopoly," Brantlinger said. "They're so huge that they can work with publishers to raise prices on books."

Brantlinger maintains that this overall push toward the outsourcing of school services is the result of the university being underfunded by the government, which then pressures the university to find other ways to increase its financial resources, such as outsourcing.

According to Brantlinger, the privatization of university services is nothing new, with food services at the student union having been outsourced approximately 15 to 20 years ago. The most recent university service to be privatized was the motor pool, with Enterprise now overseeing vehicle rentals to faculty, staff and students.

Additionally, Brantlinger said the board has announced its intent to privatize all university services that do not have an "academic mission."

However, the reappointment by the governor of three of the nine board members could impact the direction of the board when future discussions of outsourcing arise.

Elizabeth Henderson can be reached at ehenderson@slc.edu.