Update: Feb. 6, 2018, 10:15 a.m.
Following the publication of this story, Angela Agnello, director of communications & marketing for the Faculty Student Association (FSA), provided The Statesman with the following statement via email: “All current student employees may transfer their employment to Follett if they choose. Follett is working with the current student employees to meet with them and help them complete their new hire paperwork. Student employment opportunities with Follett will be posted on Handshake soon.”
Come 2018, the Shop Red West and Shop Red East will no longer be run by Barnes and Noble.
On Friday, Stony Brook’s Faculty Student Association (FSA) announced that the Follett Corporation will take over as the campus store operator.
Follett, an Illinois-based company, provides educational supplies to schools, libraries and
colleges. Its website claims the company serves 80,000 schools nationwide.
Both Follett and Stony Brook have said they’re working together to arrange the best prices for students.
“We’ll be working on a comprehensive plan with the University to ensure affordable course materials for students helping to drive success in the classroom,” Ericka Lawrence, senior internal communications specialist at Follett, wrote in an email. “We’ll also be looking at renovating the store to improve merchandising and enhance product selection.”
Follett will also replace Amazon in providing customized course material services, although the pickup location in the library will remain and students will still have access to Amazon Prime Student benefits.
“Our goal is to always provide the best service to our students and improve affordability of textbook and course materials,” Angela Agnello, the FSA director of marketing & communications, wrote in an email. “This new partnership with Follett will expand these opportunities, so students can save money with a textbook rental program in addition to a large selection of ebooks and other digital learning technologies. This change will increase opportunities for students to get a better deal for their course materials. We’ve expanded their options to comparison shop between different online retailers.”
Lawrence confirmed that current employees will have to undergo an interview process in order to stay on in their current positions.
Hailey Julian, a freshman journalism major and a student employee at Shop Red West, said that the regional manager for Follett is set to conduct interviews in the second week of February.
“We all lost our job and now have to either find a new one or apply to the new company,” Julian said. “No one technically has a job right now, starting March 15.”
This news came as a blow to Julian, who depends on her salary to mitigate the costs of tuition and personal expenses.
“What sucks the most for most of us is that we’re in the loop about what’s going on, but also we’re not in the loop about the way things are going to be changing and how,” Julian said.
Correction Feb. 4, 2018: An earlier version of this story misspelled Barnes and Noble.
