WTAMU announcing new modifications to alleviate student costs through textbook-free policy

CANYON, Texas (KFDA) - West Texas A&M University officials say a textbook-free policy announced by President Dr. Walter Wendler will now come with modifications.

Originally, the goal was to cut costs on all undergraduate program textbooks, making them free for students.

“It became clear to me that I had bitten off too big of a chunk of the apple, that it was going to be very difficult to get this done the way I wanted to. So as I’m listening to the faculty and their concerns about quality and making sure we did things well, I said, ‘OK, let’s refocus this,’” said Dr. Wendler.

Modifications were made to the policy after the WT Faculty Senate expressed concerns.

“The faculty had many concerns; one is, does it restrict our ability to choose our own materials? There’s also concerns about how does it, what does it do for the reputation of the university,” said Dr. David Craig, president of the WT Faculty Senate and associate professor of physics.

Discussion led to a solution on how to make this policy work for both students and faculty.

“We will have all of the one thousand and two thousand level courses where textbooks and related materials will not be charged to the students,” said Dr. Wendler.

Dr. Wendler’s textbook-free policy will go into effect next fall, eliminating core class textbooks for all students.

“I would say it’s a relief to some of the faculty, but you know, many faculty still have concerns about it,” said Dr. Craig.

A committee has been established to determine how the policy will work alongside the university on reducing costs to students.

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