One professor makes assigning his book for class altruistic.
For the past three years, Political Science department chairman Avery Goldstein has required students to buy a book he authored, but in exchange he has given students the choice to receive $1 back or donate $1 to a charity.
Before three years ago, Goldstein said, the idea to do so had never really occurred to him because he had not been receiving many royalties for his books.
"Most academics don't," he said.
However, as he found himself earning modest profits, he said he just "didn't feel right" accepting all of it, "even though it isn't illegal," he added.
He decided to ask fellow colleagues about how they were dealing with the issue.
"One professor would bring dollar bills and hand them out to the class in the lecture hall," he said. "But I thought that was kind of a strange way to do so."
In the end, he decided on three options for the students: donate to the Red Cross, donate to Doctors Without Borders or pocket the dollar themselves, with the assumption that they would potentially donate to a different charity.
Since he began this practice, only one student out of a few hundred has opted to get the dollar back, he said.
"[The students] seem to respond positively," he said.
One student in Goldstein's International Security class responded more than positively.
Upon receiving an e-mail from Goldstein regarding the royalties of his book, Deterrence and Security in the 21st Century, College freshman Ned Shell said he felt he had been given more than just a choice about the use of his dollar.
"In big lecture classes like International Security . rarely is insight into [a professor's] character and personality available," Shell wrote in an e-mail. "Professor Goldstein's decision allowed us this insight."
Shell said many students, including himself, either expect professors to assign their own work or find those who do egotistical, but Shell himself was "caught completely off guard" by this decision.
College and Wharton junior Charles Li recalled being just as pleasantly surprised in his "Contemporary Chinese Politics" class with Goldstein last fall.
"I had never considered it an issue," he said, having previously read his management professor's book without being given such a choice. "I was actually really surprised, but it was very thoughtful."
The profits are usually split equally between the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, Goldstein explained. Depending on a current event, one organization could be more popular than another. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, students might choose Red Cross, or the genocide in Darfur might inspire more donations to Doctors Without Borders.
"Overall, I think that it was a great way to spend a dollar that would really mean very little to me but as a class could mean a lot to another organization," College freshman Kelly Higgins wrote in an e-mail.
