College Council discussed the future of the bookstore and the response to last week’s budget forum during their March 8 meeting. Currently, the bookstore is owned and operated by Ohlone College and staffed by students.
However, the college’s Purchasing and Contracts director, Mark Robbins, has received offers from outside vendors interested in running the bookstore. Such vendors that run college bookstores include Follett Books, Barnes and Noble, and Nevada Books. The college is in the process of issuing requests for proposals to interested vendors in order to learn what they could potentially offer Ohlone. Vice President Mike Calegari called the decision to explore the options available for managing the bookstore a “due diligence decision,” which is being considered primarily to see what options are available. “Our core mission is not retail operations,” said Calegari. “The bookstore is ancillary.” Another vendor may ostensibly be able to run the bookstore more efficiently, given the changes in the e-book market and educational technology. The Council hopes to meet with constituent groups on campus and reach a “collegial decision” by the end of the semester. Other colleges have put their bookstores in the charge of vendors, including Las Positas, which has a deal with Follett Books. After considering such a deal, Chabot College decided to continue running the bookstore in-house. The University of California Santa Cruz decided to hand control of its bookstore to an outside vendor, but ended up buying back its inventory after being displeased with the arrangement. Santa Clara University’s bookstore is run by Barnes and Noble. The Council also discussed response to the Budget Forum at length. Councilmember Martha Brown commented that she felt Ohlone was “suffering from a crisis of mistrust.” Vice President Jim Wright countered that there is a, “crisis of confidence in the state of California.” He continued, “there is a lot of frustration about California pulling back on its commitment to education.” The severe cuts to state funding for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services that Ohlone is required by law to provide remained a major topic of discussion. These cuts are contributing heavily to Ohlone’s $2.6 million budget deficit.
By TIN A KARIMI
Staff writer
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