EDITORIAL: Progress at last

Finally privatizing The BookFinally privatizing The BookStore is smart move, anyFinally privatizing The BookStore is smart move, anyway you analyze it.Finally privatizing The BookStore is smart move, anyway you analyze it._______________________________ Additionally, when Barnes and Noble assumes management of The Book Store on July 1, we hope to see an expanded selection of books and a corps of knowledgeable employees -- in other words, a book store worthy of an Ivy League school. Many professors now place their trade book orders at smaller, independent retailers in the area because these stores have more knowledgeable staffs, and there's no reason B&N; can't retrain current Book Store employees to meet the standards it has established chain-wide. Employees who have demonstrated loyalty to the University and skill at their jobs should not be harmed by this restructuring project, if at all possible. Third, this project has the potential to be more than just a bookstore. If the new building is correctly planned, with input from the entire University community, it can include space for other retailers -- clothing stores, convenience stores, furniture stores. Like the Co-ops at Harvard and Yale universities, the new book store here could be a one-stop shop for student necessities ranging from compact discs to groceries and dorm-room gadgets. The larger community will also reap the rewards of this visible, multi-million dollar University investment, which should earn a handsome -- and guaranteed -- profit at the same time. Privatization isn't the answer to every fiscal problem plaguing the University in these days of uncertain federal and state appropriations, increasing salaries and benefits and skyrocketing student financial need; we wouldn't advise it for academic departments or the management of Franklin Field. But outsourcing operations like The Book Store -- or food service or residences, as a number of large universities like Duke and George Mason have -- can both save money and improve service. In the University's case, it was a deal worth making.