Barnes & Noble Bookstores and Starbucks on Campus: Things of the Past or New Spaces for Democracy?

There are currently more than 750 Barnes & Noble college bookstores across the US. But today, these bookstores are considered a losing proposition for the Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based company. Shares of BNED have recently dropped below $1 and there don't seem to be any buyers in sight. 

Barnes & Noble college bookstores have done a few things over the years to get students to come in and buy, teaming up with Starbucks and selling overpriced merchandise. And they have been cost cutting.  Wages at Barnes and Noble stores are low and schools rely on college students for much of the work. But coffee and snacks, high prices, low wages and reduced staffing haven't been enough to make the stores profitable. 

The company did have a resurgence during the COVID pandemic (2020-2021) but that was short lived.

The pandemic led to a shift to online learning, which boosted demand for digital textbooks and other educational materials. Barnes and Noble Education was well-positioned to benefit from this trend, as it has a strong digital business.

In December 2020, Barnes and Noble Education secured a $15 million investment from Fanatics and Lids, two sports merchandise retailers. This investment was seen as a vote of confidence in Barnes and Noble Education's business model and its potential for growth.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Barnes and Noble Education received $40,627,996 in COVID relief funds under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) program. The company used these funds to provide financial assistance to students, faculty, and staff, and to cover the costs of responding to the pandemic.

BNED is trying to stay up with the times and also keep their physical presence by offering First Day Complete, bundles of required digital course materials which are supposed to save money for students and schools. But will that be enough to keep the stores open? 

(Barnes & Noble at Camden County College, Camden, New Jersey) 

Glimmer of (Democratic) Hope

In May, workers at the Rutgers University bookstore voted to unionize, joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). According to Publisher's Weekly "bookstore unions across the country have gained significant ground."

Students at more than 50 colleges have also called for the expulsion of anti-union Starbucks stores from their campuses. And Starbucks Workers Solidarity has asked community members to boycott Starbucks until their local store has received a contract. 

Starbucks Workers Solidarity has unionized at more than 300 locations, but at a price: the closing of a few stores as a form of corporate retaliation--and to generate fear among workers. Recently, the University of Southern California, known for its neoliberal policies, evicted a small business owner outside USC's Keck Hospital, in favor of a Starbucks.
 

Related link:  

College Meltdown 2.1 (2022) 

College Meltdown 2.0 (2022)

Manhattanville College’s Administration Tries to Save School...by Removing its Heart (Bob Frank)

During the past two years, administrators at storied Manhattanville College have removed 46 full-time faculty--by paying then to retire or laying them off. Last month, for the first time in Manhattanville's history, tenured faculty in the arts and humanities were pushed away. 

Since the 1840s, Manhattanville College was famous for its caring faculty.  But now they will follow a CUNY/SUNY big school format, with most courses taught by adjunct faculty.

As much as the college claims on its front page to "put focus on the future," the reality is that of less caring, financially unstable institution.

To survive, Manhattanville College has chosen to cut full-time faculty, grow its administration, and create new interdisciplinary degrees. Unfortunately, no-one knows what those new interdisciplinary degrees will look like.

The Manhattanville faculty is the heart of the institution. To discard so many of them, points towards a lack of vision from its administration. 

Today, there are no more tenured faculty in many of the humanities and art disciplines and degrees such in Art History, Languages, Music, Technical Theatre, and many more, have been frozen. The future of this institution looks grim, following many years of catastrophic poor leadership and financial distress.

Students are also voicing opposition to these developments in this Change.org petition. 

One needs to ask "How can a small liberal arts college survive under the current financial climate?"

It appears Manhattanville’s administration, and its Board of Trustees, believe the answer is by freezing disciplines and replacing them with new degrees that have a proven history of being financially lucrative. But is that really the answer? 

In reality, after removing 50 percent of its full-time faculty, this college has lost its heart. The heart of Manhattanville College was its faculty and the only reason for students to choose this college. 

Compared to nearby, cheaper colleges, Manhattanville is small, with old dormitories, poor student activities, and not much to do during the weekends. Yet, it was a warm and wonderful campus, a place where students knew they were the center of attention, and faculty went far beyond their teaching duties to reach out to all students. 

When transforming a college by removing its heart, one wonders what the future holds, and how long it will take to regain an identity students can trust. 

 

Petition:

End the Administration of Manhattanville College's Negligence Towards Students and Staff