University Bookstore
sold to private company
By Darren Ivy
Co-editor
Beginning July 1, the
University Bookstore will no
longer be run by the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
But students will have hard
time recognizing any changes,
said James Main, a member of the
Bookstore Outsourcing Review
committee. The committee rec
ommended Follett College Stores
Inc. of Elmhurst, 111., be awarded
the new 10-year contract with the
UNL.
“(Follett’s) hope is that the
students won’t notice a differ
ence,” s.aid Main, assistant vice
chancellor of business and
finance and director of University
Services. “It will remain the same
bookstore — the same name,
same manager and same employ
ees.”
With its contract, Follett
Stores will have the exclusive
rights to lease, operate and man
age bookstore operations on both
UNL campuses.
In exchange for the exclusive
rights, UNL will receive a mini
mum of $ 1 million per year the
first five years and a minimum of
$1.5 million the second five years
from Follett Stores, who operate
bookstores on 575 other colleges
and universities nationwide. The
first annual payment is due on or
before July 1.
Additionally, Follett Stores
will spend up to $1 million to
redesign and renovate the exist
ing facilities at UNL.
Furthermore, Follett College
Stores will donate $60,000 a year
to UNL to be used for scholar
ships, academic initiatives, stu
dent life enhancements, diversity
and gender equity commitments
and Title IX compliance within
athletics.
Follett Stores got the nod over
three other book suppliers includ
ing Barnes & Noble and
Nebraska Bookstore. Main said
Follett Stores was the overwhelm
ing choice of the committee.
“They were very flexible and
willing to meet all of our
demands,” Main said. “They
charge a 23 percent mark up on
books which is one of the lowest
in the nation, and they buy back
books at 60 percent, which is one
of the highest in the nation. It was
the best economic deal ”
The agreement was finalized
at the June 20 NU Board of
Regents’ meeting when the board
accepted the committee’s recom
mendation.
Follett College Stores Inc.
Senior Vice President Scott
Deaton said the company put in a
bid for UNL because the universi
ty is “one of the premiere univer
sities in the country.”
Deaton said Follett Stores
would keep the same University
Bookstore employees and of the
same programs, but planned to
renovate the current bookstore,
bring in new technology, expand
promotions and take advantage of
itsnational buying ability to give
students the best deals.
“(The University Bookstore)
does a lot of good things,” Deaton
said. “We will bring our experi
ence and expertise that we have
developed over a 100 years of
dealing with hundreds of univer
sities to Nebraska. That will help
bring them to the next level in
customer services.”
A virtual bookstore for stu
a
The cheap prices
and better
technology are a
win-win situation
for everyone."
Lou Petteica
Senior, restaurant and food ser
vice administration
dents to order books is one of the
new programs Follett Stores will
offer. A rebate program in which
students receive a gift certificate
after purchasing a certain amount
of merchandise from the store is
another new incentive.
Senior restaurant/food service
administration major Lou
Petricca said he liked the sound of
the new deal.
“The cheap prices and better
technology are a win-win situa
tion for everyone,” Petricca said.
One group who was a little
disappointed that they didn’t get
the bid for UNL was the Nebraska
Bookstore.
“We run the bookstore at the
University of Nebraska-Kearney
and would have liked to been on
campus here,” said Ken Johnson,
Nebraska Bookstore general
manager. “We think the
University will be well served.
“There will probably be
increased competitiveness, but
we are both here to serve the stu
dents.”
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House votes to stop FDA
from abortion drug testing
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Abortion foes claimed victory
Wednesday after the House voted
to block the Food and Drug
Administration from using feder
al money to test, develop or
approve any drug that would
induce an abortion, including the
French pill RU-486.
Abortion rights advocates
blasted the vote as an attack on
women’s rights.
The FDA declared RU-486
safe and effective two years ago,
but withheld final approval until
it received additional informa
tion on its manufacture and
labeling. The Population Council
holds the U.S. rights to market
the drug, but has suffered a series
of setbacks in finding a manufac
turer.
The House voted 223-202 to
attach an amendment, sponsored
by Rep. Tom Cobum, R-Okla., to
a $55.9 billion fiscal 1999 spend
ing bill for agricultural, nutrition
and food stamp programs to pro
hibit the federal agency from
approving RU-486 or other abor
tion-inducing drugs.
The overall bill was approved
373-48. The Senate, which is
expected to consider its version
of the legislation next month, is
unlikely to go along with the
Coburn amendment.
RU-486 works by blocking
the hormone progesterone, which
is needed to sustain a pregnancy.
It has been found to be safe and
effective as a non-surgical
method of early abortion during
the first nine weeks of pregnancy.
A woman can take it as soon as
she learns she is pregnant.
But Coburn, an abortion
opponent and one of a handful of
doctors in Congress, argued that
such a drug would contradict the
FDA’s mission to protect con
sumers.
"The charge of the FDA is
safety,” he said. "To take away
life goes completely against the
charge of the Food and Drug
Administration.”
Female members of the House
streamed to the floor to denounce
the amendment.
"I’m sick and tired of debat
ing abortion on this floor in the
House of Representatives,
restriction after restriction, ban
after ban, amendment after
amendment,” said Rep. Nita
Lowey, D-N.Y. "We need to
make abortions less necessary,
not more dangerous.”
Lowey said RU-486 would
increase options for American
women, making abortion safer by
eliminating the need for invasive
surgery. The pill has been avail
able outside the United States
since 1981 and is used by women
in France, Sweden and Great
Britain.
Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who
serves as a liaison with conserva
tive groups that have anti-abor
tion legislation at the top of their
collective agendas, said the
FDA’s job isn’t to make "abor
tion on demand” easier and more
accessible.
"Abortion pills make an
unwanted pregnancy the medical
equivalent of a headache. Pqp a
pill and it will go away,” he said.
But angry abortion rights
advocates said the vote shows the
real goal is to outlaw all abor
tions, including those performed
at the earliest stages of pregnan
cy.
"It’s a direct assault on
women’s rights,” said Eleanor
Smeal, president of the Feminist
Majority Foundation.
Kate Michelman, president of
the National Abortion and
Reproductive Rights Action
League, said the amendment rais
es constitutional concerns since
first-trimester abortions are pro
tected by the 1973 Supreme
Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade.
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