Atlanta — March 18, 2005

In response to a growing national concern on the part of students, parents, college and university administrators and elected officials over the price of college textbooks, the University System of Georgia is holding a series of public forums on this issue.

Forums were held in Atlanta, Athens and Statesboro in February and the next and final forum will be held in Tifton in April. All forums have been open to the public.

The Tifton forum will be held from 10 a.m. until noon on Wed., April 6, at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC). The program will be held in Conference Room A of ABAC’s Carlton Center (the Baldwin Library).

“Our purpose in holding these forums is to provide information that will help all interested parties understand the various factors driving the cost of textbooks,” said Senior Vice Chancellor for Academics and Fiscal Affairs Dr. Daniel S. Papp. “We will utilize the information gained from these forums to develop recommendations on future textbook pricing that will be presented to the Board of Regents.”

Papp will provide the welcome and an overview of the issues for the April 6 event. The forum will include a panel representing students, the textbook industry and university faculty. It will be moderated by William Bowes, vice chancellor of Fiscal Affairs for the University System.

Panelists will include: Catrina Kennedy, a student and president of the Student Government Association at ABAC; Tommye Miller, director of university stores at Valdosta State University; J. Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for Higher Education of the Association of American Publishers; and Dr. Bobbie Robinson, chair of the Humanities Division at ABAC.

In addition to presentations by the panelists and a general discussion, the program will accommodate written questions from the audience, which will be directed to panel members.

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