Campus Book Store Bias

You may not be able to judge a book by its cover but you can tell a lot about a college by the titles it stocks in its bookstore.

Our correspondent from Mesa Community College in Arizona tallied up the political books on the campus bookstore’s shelves under the banner “Vote `04 and scored them as 18 liberal titles to 3 conservative tomes. That student, John Laurie, even supplied a list to go with that tally.

THE LIST OF BOOKS BEING SOLD ON MESA COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S CAMPUS:

My Life by Bill Clinton

The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush by Peter Singer

The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America by Eric Alterman

The Buying of the President 2004: Who’s Really Bankrolling Bush and His Democratic Challengers–and
What They Expect in Return (Buying of the President) by Charles Lewis

Four Trials by John Edwards, John Auchard

Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and
Hijacking Our Democracy by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Made In Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics by Michael Lind

50 Ways You Can Show George the Door in 2004 by Ben Cohen, Jason Salzman

A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America by John Kerry

The Good Fight: Declare Your Independence and Close the Democracy Gap by Ralph Nader

Punch Out the President (and Pals)! by Patrick Regan

Bush Playing Cards, Carefully Stacked Deck: Angry about the war? Concerned about the environment?
Worried about your civil liberties? Disgusted by the control big business has over the government? Well, we can’t vote anyone out of office until November. But we can make sure people know who George W. Bush & Co. really are. by Dailey, Deussing, Levy

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore

Stupid White Men …and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation! by Michael Moore

America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order by Stefan Halper, Jonathan Clarke

“Conservative”:

The Quotable George W. Bush: A Portrait in His Own Words by Bill Adler

Ronald Reagan: A Life in Pictures by Life Books

Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right by Ann Coulter

“Independent”:

The No-Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America by Bill O’Reilly

Choosing the President 2004 by The League of Women Voters

Knowing that college professors, to a large degree, determine what titles a campus book store stocks, I wrote to two officials at Mesa. I asked them why the book store could not add at least a more neutral look at the first family, such as Peter and Rochelle Schweizer’s The Bushes (Doubleday). As of yet, I have received no response.

For his part, Laurie will not let the issue die. “I currently have a GPA of 3.8 studying Fire Science, employed at Costco Wholesale full-time, have recently purchased a house, and am paying my way through college without the aid of loans,” Laurie points out. “The last thing I need or expect is to work hard only to be patronized by having to pay to be spoon-fed biased opinions imposed by others violating Mesa Community College’s own Mission and Values Statement.”

Indeed.