Western Front - 1974 August 1

              Rising paper costs raise campus prices
by LOUIS PHILLIPS
The recent rise in the cost of paper is
affecting students through higher prices at the
Student Co-op Bookstore. However, most campus
publications are finding ways to make do.
Text books have gone up ten to 11 per cent
annually for the last three years, Gary Gidley,
text book manager, said. He gave the example of
the hardbound book "Empire of the Columbia"
which has risen from $9.95 in 1971 to $12.50.
There has also been an increase in paperback
books. A $1.25 book in 1973 now costs $1.50.
Gidley said "text books are harder to find
than popular paperbacks." There is often a two-to
three-month delay in delivery of the
hardbacks, he added.
Professors seldom take into account the higher
prices or delays, said Gidley. "They use basically
what they want to use."
There has been a more dramatic increase in
the price of spiral-bound and notebook paper, he
said. It has gone up 23 per cent over last year.
This quarter, the cost of "blue books" went
up one cent but Gidley did not attribute this to
the shortage. He said the bookstore had a large
supply of the four-cent "blue books" but the
supply recently ran out and normal inflation was
the cause of the increase.
Books and brochures published by Western
have also felt the crunch.
The 1974-75 General Catalog was printed on
45-pound Catalina Offset Book paper. The
1973-74 catalog was printed on 50-pound White
Offset Book paper.
Forty-five pound Catalina is thinner than the
White Offset and appears like the paper the
"Reader's Digest" is printed on.
Director of Publications Steve Kurtz chose the
thinner paper because the lowest bid for' the
50-pound paper was $4,000 higher this year than
last.
The highest was $43,000 for the 25,000
catalogs printed annually. Kurtz settled for the
thinner paper at $19,487.
Kurtz said it was a tough decision to make.
He believes the catalog represents Western to
prospective students and therefore should project
a good image.
However, Western is not alone in publishing
catalogs on lesser-weight paper. The University of
Washington printed its catalog on paper nearly as
light as newsprint.
Other publications Kurtz controls include the
summer and graduate student catalogs. These will
be printed on heavy paper during the 1974-75
school year, as they were last year.
Ken Anderson, supervisor of printing, said this
is possible because Western's printing plant was
forewarned of the shortage and had Central
Stores buy an extra year's supply.
This supply means the "Journal of Ethnic
Studies" and the student literary book,
"Jeopardy," will be printed on the same paper as
last academic year.
The twice-quarterly publication of the student
magazine, Klipsun, will continue to be printed on
the 80-pound Enamel Finish Book paper, even
though the price of that paper has risen 27 to 38
per cent over last year.
Anderson said Josten's, the Visalia, Calif., firm
that prints Klipsun, could have made enough
profit during 1973-74 on the magazine that they
can absorb the cost rise for the 1974-75 year.
"The price of paper fluctuates on a daily
basis," he said. It is possible Josten's purchased a
large quantity of paper at a low-price period and
does not need to increase its price.
Another possibility is that Josten's needs the*
work and is willing to take a short-term loss in
order to make a long-term gain. In any case,
Klipsun will pay no more next year than it did
this year.
The Western Front has gone to a lighter
weight of newsprint but not because of higher
prices. The student newspaper is printed by the
Hearing on reduction policy
at today's trustee meeting
A public hearing on
Western's reduction/realloca-tion-
in-force (R/RIF) policy
w i l l be held during this
afternoon's Board of Trustees
meeting. The public is invited
to attend the 2 o'clock meeting
in Miller Hall 163.
The college is presently
operating under emergency
rules adopted by the trustees at
their June meeting. Prior to
that, Western operated under
.policies and procedures which
were similar to the ones that
will be considered today.
An approval by the trustees
today would be a formal
adoption under the Washington
Academic Code.
Also on today's agenda is
consideration of a PhD in
Education-School Psychology
proposal. Authorized by the
legislature in 1969, the
doctorate program would make
Western eligible for some
$400,000 in funds over a
two year period once the
program is implemented in fall
1975.
Following trustee action, the
proposal will be presented to
the Council on Higher
Education in October for final
approval.
The trustees will also discuss
the campus FM station's
programming policy and a
charter of the Student Co-op
Bookstore at today's meeting.
Budgetary items to be
c o n s i d e r e d i n c l u de
improvements to the housing
and d i n i n g s y s t e m,
improvements to the parking
system and renovation of Old
Main.
Lynden Tribune, a weekly paper serving rural
Whatcom County.
The Tribune has been forced to use 30-pound
newsprint because of the non-availability of the
standard 32-pound paper.
The lower-weight paper results in a
"muddying," or darkening, of photographs,
unless special steps are taken.
Co-publisher and editor of the Tribune Bill
Lewis said the price of 30-pound newsprint is
going up to $245 a ton today. This will be a 42
per cent increase since March 1973.
"The increased costs are no worse in this
industry than in others," he said. "Our problem
is that we never know if we're going to have
enough paper."
The Tribune is on a quota system and cannot
get more paper than it has budgeted. Lewis said
they cannot use a lighter paper because it would
break in the press.
Even the. 30-pound paper breaks. This wastes
time in a business that demands a tight schedule,
Lewis said.
The Tribune is trying to beat the shortage by
using narrower columns and editing stories very
carefully. Lewis said they do not use any "filler
material," short stories or anecdotes that just fill
space.
Lewis said the shortage has "forced us to do a
better job" of being a newspaper. He said the
Tribune still uses only 60 per cent of the
newspaper for advertising. Other small papers
have gone to a larger percentage of advertising.
The paper companies are "shipping pulp and
logs overseas," Lewis said. This created the
shortage in America.
Bookstore text book manager Gidley agreed.
"Frankly, I don't think there is an overall
shortage of paper," he said. "I think it's been
contrived — just look at the profits of the paper
companies."
"The companies have been shutting down
plants and ripping off prices," Gidley said. He
said the Japanese have been buying recyclable
paper at a higher price than Georgia-Pacific, a
national paper producer with a pulp mill in
Bellingham.
Gidley said Crown Zellerbach, another large
paper producer, had a 160 per cent profit rise
over last year. However, this cannot be attributed
solely to the recent hike in paper prices Crown
Zellerbach made, because the company produces
other wood products, also.