Textbooks are usually written by professors, for professors, but when a professor decides to require his or her own book for class, policies are in place to assure students are not taken advantage of.

Nancy Mergler, vice president and provost, cited the faculty handbook’s policy that states faculty can receive royalties for textbooks assigned in their own classes as long as any compensation is disclosed in advance. She said as long as they meet certain ethics criteria and pass an administrative review there is no conflict of interest.

International and area studies director Robert Cox said university-wide procedures provide some oversight to what textbooks and materials professors use.

“[Administrators] review the cost of the book,” Cox said. “It has to be below a certain threshold.”

Cox said the threshold is different for each college and department.

“Our annual review process would also catch anything egregious,” he said.

Cox said there are no routine checks to make sure the least expensive textbook is being used for each class, whether a instructor wrote it or not. Cox said the responsibility to use the least expensive and most relevant textbook is up to the professor.

What conflict?

Sociology professor Robert Franzese said he assigns his own textbook because the royalties he receives from OU students is negligible.

“With the three editions of the Youth Gangs book [that I co-authored], we made very little money. So money is not the incentive. I don’t feel like it’s a conflict of interest because the most I can make is 10 percent,” he said. “I felt I could write as good as any other book I’d use. I feel really comfortable with it. It’s exciting to use your own book in class.”

John Fishel is an international and area studies professor who requires his book, “Uncomfortable Wars Revisited,” in two of his classes.

“My books are the result of research over more than 25 years, and they were written as scholarly contributions to my field,” Fishel said. “I, and I assume my colleagues who use their own stuff, do so because I believe it’s the best thing out on the subject.”

Fishel said he keeps his share of the royalties from the sales of his book. He said it amounts to a few hundred dollars a year.

His co-author also receives a share of the royalties.

“Using one’s own stuff is not a conflict of interest, provided that it is appropriate to the course and reasonably up to date,” Fishel said.

Erin Murphy, advertising senior, said she does not think it is wrong for a professor to receive money from a required textbook they wrote.

“I’m okay with that as long as I don’t feel like I’m getting ripped off,” Murphy said. “They put in a lot of time and hard work to get a book published.”

Jennifer Harrison, international and area studies and Spanish sophomore said she enjoys using books written by her professors because they guide her through their course more than another author’s would.

“I would only see it as wrong if the professor was assigning an inferior text simply because he or she wrote it,” Murphy said.

Creative solutions

Even with the policies in place to protect students’ interests, some professors get creative to go above and beyond the policy prescriptions.

Jim Avery requires his own textbook, “Advertising Campaign Planning,” for his advertising capstone class.

“Every penny I earn on the sale of the book from students in my class I give to the dean of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication,” Avery said.

Dean Joe Foote then gives the money to the OU Foundation to be donated to the university.

Avery said the amount is about $50 per semester.

“It’s unethical for me to make money from my students,” Avery said.

Avery said he uses his textbook because no better one is available.

Marielle Hoefnagels is a biology professor currently on hiatus. She required her own textbook for biology classes she taught, and a textbook committee also selected it for use in a zoology class.

“When I get royalties from the OU sales, it will go to a textbook scholarship,” Hoefnagles said.

Hoefnagels said by donating the money back to OU, she is removing any percieved conflict of inerest.

Hoefnagels said she decided creating the scholarship was the “right thing to do.” The scholarship has not been set up yet, because Hoefnagels has not yet received any royalties from her book.