Both Witt and Powell say shopping period considerably limits their profits.

"Basically, if our textbook department were separate from the Coop, it would at best break even," Powell says. "Absolutely, without shopping period it would be more profitable."

Witt says that the sourcebook office actually loses money every semester.

"If we've printed 500 sourcebooks and only 200 students take the class, we end up losing thousands of dollars because we've had to pay to have them printed," Witt says.

"Each year there are four or five classes that are significantly lower, and at least one that is several hundred students lower," he says. "We end up having to recycle around 20 boxes of books every year. The main reason for that recycling is shopping period."

The Bright Side

For students and professors, though, the chaos created by shopping period ends the day study cards are due, when students are able to make informed decisions about their courses.

"I think students get much more out of personal contact with a professor in a classroom than an abstract summary out of a course catalog," says Pipes. "It only goes on for two or three lectures."

Despite the preliminary discussion about preregistration by the Faculty Council last spring, professors seem to be willing to continue xeroxing extra syllabi, even if it means not knowing how many teaching fellows to hire.

"I think it's a wonderful institution," Oettinger says. "It creates a bit of chaos, but it's a wonderful tradeoff for free marketplace so students can see what they're getting before buying into it."

"I think it's a good thing for students to have choice," Layzer says. "I think the option is important enough that we can put up with a bit of chaos for the first couple of days."

Those faculty members who experienced shopping period themselves as undergraduates are particularly supportive of the institution.

"As an ex-[Harvard] student, I could hardly be against shopping period," Lewis says. "I don't think there is really any way for an incoming freshman to know for sure whether she belongs in Math 25 and will enjoy it except to go to the first couple of classes and try to do the first problem set."

The vast majority of undergraduates interviewed were against eliminating shopping period.

"Eliminating it is a very poor idea," says Alex M. Fung '98. "I'm undecided on many courses at the beginning of the week. If I hadn't shopped, I would have actually chosen two classes I didn't enjoy very much."