Jessica Cleveland, a junior from Cross Plains, Tenn., noticed something unusual about her linguistics textbook at the beginning of the semester. Her professor’s name appeared on the cover.

“At first, I wasn’t sure about what to expect,” she said in an e-mail. “After all, I had never had a professor who came complete with their own curriculum.”

Western has no policy preventing teachers from requiring books they’ve written, and several teachers have done so, Provost Barbara Burch said. But some faculty and students disagree with the practice.

Bookstore Department Manager Forrest Halford said he’s unsure how many teachers require students to buy teacher-written books, but about 70 teachers require course packs, which are custom publications including teacher-written material.

Cleveland’s teacher, Assistant English Professor Elizabeth Winkler, wrote a textbook after becoming frustrated with overly-technical literature that was ineffective for non-linguistic majors, she said.

“I needed something that was much shorter, much less expensive and had less theory and more practice,” Winkler said.

Winkler worked to control the price of the book by limiting the number of pages and color pictures. Her book sells for $18 to $20 new, and she said she encourages students to buy it used online for about $10.

Winkler said there’s a perception that teachers are getting rich off their textbooks, but she only makes 4 percent of her book’s net profits.

“I don’t have a need to make money off of my own students,” she said.

Winkler said the professional recognition she received was a larger incentive than money to write a book.

The impression that teachers become wealthy from books sales is as dangerous as the possibility that teachers’ authorship influences their decisions about which books to use in class, Associate Journalism Professor Harry Allen said.

“It gives the perception that teachers may not choose the best textbook, because they choose a textbook that gets them money,” he said. “It’s a classic conflict of interest.”

Allen said teachers who choose to use their own textbook should put royalties from student purchases into a general scholarship fund or other charitable account.

Winkler keeps the royalties from her book sales, but Cleveland said in an e-mail she was pleased with Winkler’s decision.

“After meeting Dr. Winkler and reading through her book this semester, I have decided that it would be great if all of my professors used their own book,” she said in an e-mail.

Bowling Green sophomore Lauren Lowe said she would benefit from having teachers who require their own textbooks because teachers often stray from required texts.

“It’s much better than having a bunch of information that’s different from what you’re going to learn anyway,” she said.

English Assistant Professor Tom Hunley is currently writing his own instructional poetry-writing book, which he’ll use in classes.

Like Winkler, the motivation behind Hunley’s book came from years of using books with ineffective writing exercises, he said.

“It doesn’t get into the book if it hasn’t been proven that a student can write a great poem doing it,” he said.

Nortonville senior Sarah Gamblin said Hunley’s book-writing abilities help show off his credentials.

“A lot of students think ‘Oh, who’s this guy to tell me how to write?’” she said. “But if a publisher takes them seriously, maybe the students should too.”

But some students disagree with the practice of teachers using their own books in courses.

Nashville senior P.J. Schenkel said one of his current teachers required students to buy his book.

“That’s totally wrong,” he said. “I feel like I’ve paid enough money for classes here that, if a teacher wrote their own book, they can provide it for me.”

Cave City freshman Kyle Bunnell said he understands the professional and monetary incentive teachers have to require their own books but worries the books only present one view.

“Your horizons on issues are narrowed by the teacher’s own selfishness,” he said.

Allen said he would like to see Western explore policies to regulate how teachers use royalties obtained from requiring students to purchase their books.

But he said he would rather have no policy than one restricting teachers’ academic freedom to choose books best suited for classes.