Princeton Undergraduate Student Government

The USG has worked hard in many ways to reduce general costs for Princeton students. One potentially cost-saving area we looked into was Pequod, an independent for-profit business that charges students $30-$200 for a booklet of readings. To reduce this expense, it appears reasonable to simply put all those readings on e-reserves, where students can access them for free.

Over the past semester, the USG Undergraduate Life Committee investigated this issue, and made some interesting discoveries. The reason why Pequod essentially owns a monopoly is that its business is not very profitable - other printing agencies like Triangle have a weak incentive to compete. As a result, Pequod is the only printing service that professors can use to distribute school materials. And unfortunately, Pequod is charging rather high prices for profit, and does not maintain regular contact with the University (Labyrinth, on the other hand, has a set contract with the University).

The ULC does not necessarily aim to eliminate Pequod - some professors prefer to teach their classes with a Pequod. However, greater emphasis towards e-reserves would lower the average costs for a class at Princeton, and perhaps encourage Pequod to adjust its prices competitively. Furthermore, the process to put readings on e-reserves is rather simple for professors.

This past semester, as a result of discussions between the USG and the University administration, Dean Malkiel and Dean Quimby wrote an e-mail to all Princeton faculty to encourage them to use e-reserves to lower costs for students.

It is important to remember that students can also exert pressure on their professors to put readings on e-reserves rather than in a Pequod. Everything in a Pequod could be made available online for free.

Please contact Arthur Levy with questions, comments, or concerns.

Download the email sent to the faculty