Apparently some universities now cut deals with publishers to sponsor “custom” versions of textbooks and then require their students to purchase those special editions. I certainly don’t see anything wrong with teachers assembling custom coursepacks of materials for their classes (sometimes it can even save students’ money if it replaces a costly textbook). But this is something else entirely — the books may not be significantly different from the standard edition and the school gets a kickback (er, I mean “royalty”) from the publisher for each book sold. The Journal opens the article with an especially offensive example (because the Journal has not yet fulfilled earlier hopes that it would make articles permanently available online, I will quote this key passage for you — it’s fair use after all!):
The University of Alabama, for instance, requires freshman composition students at its main campus to buy a $59.35 writing textbook titled “A Writer’s Reference,” by Diana Hacker.
The spiral-bound book is nearly identical to the same “A Writer’s Reference” that goes for $30 in the used-book market and costs about $54 new. The only difference in the Alabama version: a 32-page section describing the school’s writing program — which is available for free on the university’s Web site. This version also has the University of Alabama’s name printed across the top of the front cover, and a notice on the back that reads: “This book may not be bought or sold used.” …
The publisher of the Alabama book — Bedford/St. Martin’s, based in Boston — pays the Tuscaloosa school’s English department a $3 royalty on each of the 4,000 copies sold each year. And though the prohibition on selling the book used can’t be legally enforced, the college bookstore won’t buy the books back, making it more difficult for students to find used copies.