UW Oshkosh administration is planning to outsource our campus bookstore to Follett or Barnes and Noble Education, large corporations that prioritize profit over student affordability and success. This decision would:

• Increase textbook and merchandise prices
• Decrease customer support services 
• Take state jobs away from university employees

The bookstore was in the black until covid and has been closing the gap and expects to be back in the black in the fiscal year of 2026 at the latest. 

9 of the 11 other UW institutions have outsourced bookstores and many would like to go back to being self operating stores due to the conditions of the stores being run by Follett or Barnes and Noble Education.

For more information, here is a link to the report by the task force assigned to the analysis of self-operated and third-party business models for the UW Oshkosh Bookstore, https://media-cdn.socastsrm.com/wordpress/wp-content/blogs.dir/2499/files/2024/11/bookstore-task-group-report-final.pdf 

Here is another article on the outsorcing of our bookstore, https://wtaq.com/2024/11/12/controversy-amidst-outsourcing-of-uw-oshkosh-bookstore/ 

There has been no public announcement informing the campus community knowing it would upset students, staff, and faculty. Please sign this petition to ask the chancellor to be transparent and accountable for his decisions and to come up with alternative resolutions to our current financial circumstances other than outsourcing the bookstore. Please spread the word and continue to support the bookstore.