REMEMBER: UPDATE THE FOLIO VOL. 101, NO. 5 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 RANDOLPH, N.J. HE OUNGTOWN DITION T Y COUNTY COLLEGE OF MORRIS’E AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWSPAPER Bookstore seeking cheaper alternatives to big name publishers BY BRETT Lubnow also said that he is FRIEDENSOHN looking into an open source alter- Editor-in-Chief native to MyMathLab altogether. “There’s a product called As textbook prices from the MyOpenMath that is like My- likes of Pearson, McGraw Hill, MathLab except it’s free,” he said. and Norton can tend to reach three “It does the gradings, you can up- figures in price, County College load test banks. You can upload of Morris Campus Store manager problems, that sort of thing. So in- Jeff Lubnow is looking to mini- stead of it costing a student $100 mize their grip on students’ wallets to take a course, MyOpenMath is by working with academic depart- free. So we’ve been doing these ments to switch to non-copyright- presentations in hopes of getting ed materials to reduce costs. some more adoptions in this re- Through Open Educational gard because it’s a big thing on Dr. Resources, a database of free Iacono’s agenda one way or the scholarly work, the bookstore and other.” the departments work together to Liberal arts major Alexis vet the books and scholarly ar- Cooper said that these alternatives PHOTO BY ALEXA WYSZKOWSKI could help students. ticles used from the sources and Students Alexis Cooper, Marie Rodriguez, and Gisselle Ruiz in the CCM Campus Store. coordinate with administration to “Cheaper books definitely decide if the alternative textbook help when being a college student department, but they decided to about how professional, and I fol- school gets a lower price on My- is satisfactory for classes. because you may not have anyone stay with the Pearson book for this low the stuff because we don’t MathLab for students, and what This semester is the first se- to help you pay for them,” she semester. want to unleash stuff just because we do in return is students have mester where the biology depart- said. “We’ve just been trying to it’s free but it hasn’t even been vet- an opt-out, but it is billed directly ment has used the OpenStax pub- Biology major Marie Rodri- marshall them because it’s hard for ted.” from the college to the student,” he lisher’s ‘Concepts of Biology’ for guez said that free books make the faculty,” Lubnow said. “This Additionally, Lubnow said said. “So instead of it being about BIO-133 which previously used sense to help students’ finances. is kind of new and foreign to them that his store was working to $120 for MyMathLab, it lowers ‘Discover Biology’, a Norton “I think that cheap books because when they all went to strike a deal with Pearson to re- the price anywhere from 15 per- textbook that cost $150. Also, the from a different name brand or on- school, it was you went and bought duce the price of MyMathLab, an cent to 25 percent. And students bookstore is giving away a PDF line pdf books makes everything a book. A lot of this stuff is newer, online recourse which most math can opt out, but otherwise, as soon copy for free online. easier for the students financially,” and when we can give them sort of classes use. as you log in to Blackboard, your The bookstore presented a she said. finished versions of them, I think “If we sign a deal with Pear- access to MyMathLab is already book for general biology to the Alexa Wyszkowski contrib- they’ve been pleasantly surprised son for exclusive access, then the there.” uted to this story. Professors working to remedy damaged civil discourse BY ADAM GENTILE Halo also felt that students and tribalism in the age of fake way of life, the philosophy that Features Editor are afraid to talk about their be- news. produced the murderers.” liefs and choose to remain quiet Pallant took time in the lec- Pallant noted how unprec- Three County College of out of fear. ture to show how Twitter bots edented this era is in terms of Morris professors are taking Another concern from were used in the 2016 presiden- people’s disdain and attack on measures to enlighten students Halo is that students are unaware tial election and gave advice on the free and independent press, on the issues of civil discourse, or have been given little infor- how to identify them. He noted by calling them the enemy of the and democratic self-governance mation about many civic mat- how they tend to use inflamma- people. In his presentation, Pal- DR. MARK DAVID to combat fake news and hyper- UFFELMAN PALLANT ters, for example, subjects like tory rhetoric in threads in an ef- lant showed an image of a man partisanship. gerrymandering and congressio- fort to create divisiveness. wearing a shirt that had “Rope. The interdisciplinary proj- three classes at CCM with each nal hearings. For Pallant, the most im- Tree. Journalist. some assembly ect is called Facilitating Civil professor giving their own spe- “What I try to do in political portant issue that they tackled in required” on it. Discourse in an age of Fake cialized lecture between their science is teach them American the lecture was the idea of filter “The concern is that the at- News and debates about the classes. government so they are aware of bubbles. tack on free speech is real,” Pal- Truth, and is made up of Dr. The first lecture was per- what's going on around them be- “People are in these social lant said. “If you are saying that Candace Halo of the history and formed by Halo Monday, Sept. cause it does affect them,” Halo media bubbles that they can’t someone is an enemy of you political science department, 17 and focused on the First said. get out of, and they keep click- and the country and then you’re Professor David Pallant of the Amendment as it pertains to free In response to the lack of ing these articles that feeds them wearing that there is correlation communication department, speech and civil discourse on communication the classes will the same information over and between that … Would you then and Dr. Mark Uffelman of the college campuses. also act as a medium for students over again,” Pallant said. morally justify actual violence?” English and philosophy depart- “We talked the fundamental to hold conversations with one Pallant said that the par- Pallant also said that by ment. The program follows the rights and got them to understand another. tisanship in the news stations having face to face conversa- outline made by the Association that the right belongs to the indi- “We are giving students have done a major disservice to tions people can overcome polit- of American Colleges and Uni- vidual and it was to protect them the opportunity to talk and we the people. ical differences and still respect versities (AACU) that relates to from government,” Halo said. want to help them understand “They kind of tribalized each other. civic learning and engagement. Halo also said that the class what civil discourse means,” people by regurgitating their Uffelman’s lecture is sched- The three major components of was not just about the structure Halo said. “It means that you version of facts and the country uled for Wednesday, Nov.14 and the AACU outline are knowl- of the First Amendment but the can totally disagree with a per- is way more divided,” Pallant is titled “Truth in Democracy.” edge, skills, and values. current issues that are present on son but you can still walk away said. “Rhetoric is ramped up on This lecture will bring up clas- Halo, Pallant, and Uffelman college campuses across Ameri- from the conversation not hating each side and violence will oc- sical ideas of truth and whether started this project because they ca. She brought up how there is each other … Civil discourse cur, sadly as we saw with the or not we live in an era of post- noticed a lack of civil discourse a disconnect in communications is a robust, honest, frank, and synagogue shooting.” truth. A post-truth can be defined in our society, brought on by civ- between students and how they constructive dialogue and delib- Pallant mentioned that the as an era where truth doesn’t re- ic ignorance, hyper-partisanship, just seem to be angry all the time eration that seeks to advance the rhetoric of one person is not to ally matter, and that truth can be and an attack. However, they with no real progress on the is- public interest. Critical aspect blame but the culture made from defined by who is speaking. plan on combating this with the sues. of dialogue is patience integrity, harmful rhetoric should be ex- Uffelman said that we live use of open discussion, breaking “What we are trying to do humility and mutual respect.” amined. This concept echoes a in an age of truth relativism and the filter bubbles, and teaching is in the academic environment Pallant, of the communica- quote from Dr. Martin Luther truth emotivism. students about how to identify have students able to discuss tion department, hosted a lecture King, Jr.: “We must be concerned “A lot of these individuals the truth. things in a very open manner,” Monday, Oct. 29 focused on me- not merely about who murdered The program is made up of Halo said.