Student Government Calls for Pause on Universal Access Policy

The UMD Student Government passed a resolution last Monday calling for a pause on a proposed University of Minnesota policy called Universal Access (UA). 

The resolution, introduced by Swenson College of Science and Engineering freshman representative Aidan Zeissler, was passed unanimously by the Student Government Association. It called for a pause of Universal Access to give students time to ask questions about the program and provide feedback about its implementation. 

“I felt like it's going at a record pace for academic policies and programs of this kind,” said Zeissler. “Universities are known for being very slow when it comes to implementing things. And this thing was first dreamed up last August, and only brought to my attention last [December].”

Universal Access was proposed internally in Fall 2023 as a solution to issues in course material access. It would automatically enroll all undergraduate students in the program and provide digital “textbooks and other course materials” to them. On the policy website, the university compares the program to a “subscription service,” where students would pay a flat rate to get their materials. Besides textbooks, it is unclear what is included in “course materials.” 

While negotiations and discussions about the program are ongoing, students would pay $279 per semester ($558 per year) for textbooks at the current pricing. They would receive their materials by the first day of classes and lose access at the end of the semester. Students could opt out of the program as long as they did so before the drop/add deadline. It is unclear whether additional costs would be added to opt-out. 

However, students could not opt-out on a course-by-course basis. If they wanted to do so, they would have to opt out of Universal Access and into Inclusive Access, a program currently in effect at the university. 

According to the university, the program has several advantages. It claims that UA is the continuation of a recent trend that has seen 70% of all course material sales turn to digital copies. UA would also reduce the system’s carbon footprint, citing the University of California-Davis, which claims that its UA program avoided nearly 1,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

The university also claims that the program would save students money over time and cites a November survey that supposedly shows that students support the change. However, the survey results have not been publicly released, nor have they been given to the student government after repeated requests and assurances that they would. 

For Zeissler, even as a SCSE student,  the $279 per semester price doesn’t make sense. 

“I just don't think that anyone pays that, especially considering I paid less than that,” Zeissler said. “I have my textbooks for an entire semester… and I paid $250 total so far.”

Zeissler says the next steps for the UMD Student Government include trying to work with other student governments in the University of Minnesota system to draft a resolution for the next Student Senate meeting that would call for a pause on UA. On Wednesday, the Student Government released a petition for students to sign that would call on the university to pause the program. That petition has received over 750 signatures in the first 48 hours. 

However, it’s not just the student government that is concerned about UA. In an open letter to faculty members, communication professors Aaron Boyson and Ryan Goei have also called for a pause in implementing UA. They cite over 50 studies that show students do not want to read digitally and that doing so would negatively affect their mental health, their ability to learn and the university’s ability to be an effective educational institution. 

Boyson explained that he feels it is his duty to give students the best possible education. 

“I did it because I was concerned that a program like UA would overall cause a marked increase in screen time and screen use among our students, which would have a negative impact on their learning and their wellbeing,” Boyson said. “That’s why I began to investigate writing a letter, and as I did the research, the more I learned and the clearer the story got that it was going to be worse for both of those things.” 

Roughly 25% of all UMD faculty have co-signed the open letter, with faculty members from every college being represented. 

“The reason I get paid is to make sure those things matter to me and to deliver on those things as an educator,” Boyson said. “And they also just matter to me because I care deeply about students and their success.”

The Board of Regents will vote on Universal Access in early May. If approved, it will take effect next year. 

To learn more, visit the policy website at https://ua.umn.edu/.