As the semester begins here at UNL, many students are opening up their textbooks for the first time. The first chapters in many of these books are introductions and refreshers to the material that will be covered in the course, but for many students, these chapters provide a framework for the course as a whole either good or bad.
One such book at the College of Business is concerning students as they delve into their text. “An Introduction Into Advanced International Finance” by Dr. Martin Rutherford, the coursebook for FINA 453, is concerning students due to the phrases used within the first couple of pages.
“The purpose of international finance is to help domestic businesses to exploit weaknesses within foreign economies,” the book reads on its first page. As the book continues into the guide of later chapters another quote reads “Chapter 4 will cover salary and wages, but will have a large focus on taking advantage of local laws to cut wage costs.”
There are mixed reactions to this text, with many students being outraged. “They are just saying the quiet part out loud now,” says Senior English Major/Finance Minor Sarah Francis, “I looked into a later chapter of the text and there is a section on union-busting. This book continues to teach evil business practices to students.”
Some students do not see the language of this text as an issue. “I don’t see the issue. These are common practices,” Junior Economics major Carson Matthews explained, “My father does all of this at his company.”
We reached out to Dr. Rutherford for a comment on his text, but his butler said he would not be able to comment due to him being on a month-long vacation in the Bahamas.
While the verdict is still out on the nature of the text and if it should be used in the classroom, students are still trying to get into the course. One student told the DailyER, “FINA 453 is an easy A, there is one assignment all semester and it is an intro course. Who cares if it teaches how to assassinate union leaders, I need a GPA boost.”