With last month's Duke Student Government bookstore referendum as a mandate, DSG Vice President for Academic Affairs Jason Bergsman is trying to re-ignite a conversation on bringing a brand-name store to campus.
Citing examples from universities around the country, Bergsman said that contracting Duke's bookstore services to a major chain-such as Barnes and Noble or Follett-would improve both the inventory and service of the Gothic Bookshop, the Textbook Store and the University retail store.
"Duke Stores management has done an excellent job, but [these are] the sort of improvements that can only be brought in by the major stores and the resources they have on a whole host of issues," said Bergsman, a senior. Pointing to industry trends of expanded services and more specialization, he said that Duke University Stores may not be able to compete with major chains.
Bergsman has already met several times with Auxiliary Services officials. "The meetings have been in an effort to make [DSG officials] aware of the many issues that there are to consider," said Jim Wilkerson, director of Duke University Stores. "There was an impression that the only way to get a new store would be to lease the operations to a private contractor."
Following officials' suggestion, Bergsman will try to reactivate a Duke Stores student advisory committee that has been dormant for a number of years. Modeled after the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee, it may begin meeting as early as January.
"The experience of having four or five students sit around the table with management every two weeks or so is invaluable," said Joe Pietrantoni, associate vice president for Auxiliary Services.
The Nov. 6 referendum, sponsored by Bergsman, was approved by nearly three-fourths of the 1,478 undergraduates who voted. But Bergsman and Wilkerson disagree on the meaning of the vote.
"I noted to [DSG legislators] that I thought the question was wrong and misleading to those who are uninformed on the issues," said Wilkerson. "If they had consulted me, it might have been drafted much differently."
Although he admitted that he should have contacted Wilkerson prior to the vote, Bergsman defended the validity and factual nature of the question, which suggested that adding a chain store could improve services, a measure that may require remodeling the store or adding an entirely different building.
Auxiliary Services officials say that such changes can occur without contracting outside the University, and that Duke Stores already leads major independent college stores in sales per student.
Just a year and a half ago, administrators rejected multi-million dollar offers from bookstore giants Barnes and Noble and Follett. That decision was based largely on an Auxiliary Services analysis that found no reason to sacrifice control over a profitable operation for benefits that are not guaranteed.
In addition, many professors have been concerned that a bookstore giant would not carry specialized texts and would be less responsive to their needs overall. "Will Barnes and Noble be willing to carry the texts from small European publishers? You get conflicting evidence on that," said Michael Gillespie, professor of political science and former chair of the Academic Council's bookstore committee. He added that faculty can be divided on the issue, with humanities professors protective of the Gothic Bookshop and natural science faculty more concerned with textbooks.
Gillespie also suggested that although undergraduates have every right to explore the possibility of bringing in an outside company, it is important to recognize that professors and graduate students enjoy access to the Gothic's more specialized texts.
Bergsman has countered that chain-run bookstores at other universities are customized to their individual schools. But Wilkerson said Duke Stores provides unique benefits that would be lost with outsourcing.
"Every retail facility that you see on campus now was built and paid for by revenue from Duke Stores, without any gifts from the University," Wilkerson said. He also noted that his department has provided millions of dollars over the years to other efforts, including more than $100,000 each year in subsidies and free services to student events and $600,000 for renovations to the Alpine Atrium a few years ago.
Wilkerson also expressed his desire to expand Duke Stores' current inventory and selection, either by building onto the Bryan Center or constructing a new store altogether. However, he said the recent death of architect Jim Edwards has delayed those plans.
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