OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Another possible change to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh sparks disappointment from students, as the ownership of the University bookstore may be transferred to a third-party corporation.
- UWO created a task force to look at two ways to increase bookstore profits– restructuring the current operations and transferring ownership to a third-party vendor.
- Students have created a petition to stop the outsourcing, saying a third-party owner would result in higher costs on students and less community outreach.
- Chancellor Andrew Leavitt says the University will look to save money while maintaining high levels of customer service under a third-party contract.
For seniors, Abby Laundries and Ellon Buchanan, the University Bookstore is more than just textbooks; it’s a community resource.
“It’s one of the biggest support systems here on campus,” Laundries says.
Buchanan and Laundries are co-presidents of the Women’s Advocacy Council on campus. They say they were caught off guard by the news that Chancellor Leavitt will outsource the bookstore.
“This is happening and no one really told us about it,” Buchanan says.
To raise awareness of the change, the two created a petition: “Stop the Outsourcing of Our University Bookstore.”
“Students were majorly affected when staff were cut, so then to have the bookstore be another loss would be another big effect on students, and I felt that, you know, we should use our voices to speak out and raise awareness,” Laundries says.
Chancellor Leavitt says they notified the student government and bookstore employees of the change.
“If people may have wanted it rolled out a different way, I'm not sure what we would have done differently,” he says.
Leavitt says the bookstore has been losing profits steadily for multiple years.
Several months ago, UWO created a task force to examine possible solutions to the loss in profits.
“We can't lose money on a bookstore, because that draws resources away from other parts of the university, from the classroom, so it's important that the bookstore be an organization that can support itself,” he says.
The task force released a report in October, describing the pros and cons of two solutions: transferring ownership to a third-party vendor or restructuring the current self-operated model.
The report suggested several changes to the current model, including reducing operating hours and student staff, adding more sale weeks each year and stopping certain scholarships.
According to the task force findings, implementing all of the changes would cause the bookstore to start gaining profit again by 2026.
“We can certainly look at those options, and that of course are the findings of the task force, and those would have to be modeled and tested to make sure that they’re viable options,” Leavitt says.
The report says a move to a third-party owner would likely result in immediate financial relief.
However, the report also says there is a possibility for a decrease in campus support, worse customer service and increase in textbook costs under third-party ownership.
The report also says some large-scale corporations, like Barnes & Noble and Follet, have unpredictable financial futures.
“Given ongoing loss of profits, one of these chains could pull out of the bookstore market or go out of business altogether,” the report says.
The task force interviewed multiple schools with a third-party model, according to the report, and some said they regret signing the contract.
“All three of the UW school bookstore colleagues we spoke with indicated that, due to the combination of decreased service quality and financial underperformance they have experienced with third parties, they would ideally prefer to return to a self-operated model in the future,” the report says.
Still, Chancellor Leavitt says because nine of the Universities of Wisconsin schools are operating third-party bookstores already, he decided to move forward with a bid process.
“It’s a way to have a higher level of assurance that you’re going to have a financially sustainable bookstore,” Leavitt says.
Through spring 2025, the University will look at different contract bids with third parties.
Leavitt says they will negotiate to maintain current customer service and keep full time employees on staff.
“To see in fact, if we can run a more profitable bookstore with high quality customer service through a third-party vendor,” Leavitt says.
This past October, Leavitt announced that he was stepping down as Chancellor at the end of June 2025. He says changing ownership of the bookstore is a way to leave the University off in a stable place.
“I’ve had to make difficult decisions in the last two years,” he says. “It’s about putting the institution in the best possible position to hand off to the next leader.”
You can find the task force report on the UWO website or on Buchanan's petition.
