The Holmes Student Center Bookstore last year received commissions of $3,586 for sales of magazine subscriptions and American Express cards, yet commercial solicitations from these same companies are banned from most places on campus.

This seemingly conflicting policy is part of a delicate balancing act officials say they must perform to keep student fees down.

For the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1988, the bookstore received $2,012 from the issuing of American Express cards promoted at the stand opposite the Diversions entrance in the student center, according to interim bookstore director Neil Kepner.

Applications in the display bare the bookstore stamp, and the store gets a commission on approved cards.

The bookstore is paid for magazine subscriptions sold from fliers put into bookstore customers’ bags. The store received $1,486 for subscription sales for the nine months ending Sept, 30, 1988, Kepner said.

On Dec. 31, 1987, the bookstore received $3,586 for the magazine and AmEx promotions combined from the previous calendar year, Kepner said.

He said he did not know how much the store gets from each subscription sold or card issued.

The store also has a one-year, guaranteed $14,000 minimum contract with the ArtCarved ring company, Kepner said. The store can receive more than this amount, based on sales made at the ArtCarved table outside the bookstore entrance.

The bookstore pays for some of the cost of local newspaper ads promoting visits of the ring company, Kepner said.

Commission income is deposited directly into the commercial accounts for the bookstore, he said.

“We’re not talking huge amounts of money here. We’re talking about a sum of money that accrues to the bookstore with no expense,” he said. Bookstore employees stuff the magazine sales pieces into bags when they are not busy, he said.

Commercial solicitations are banned from residence hall bulletin boards and other University Programming and Activities bulletin boards on campus. Sales pieces can be placed on residence hall “information tables” and on one unrestricted UP&A bulletin board in Altgeld Hall. Academic departments have jurisdiction over their own bulletin boards, Michelle Emmett, UP&A director, said.

The university does have the right to rent commercial space, although it usually does not do so, said University Legal Counsel George Shur. Without advertisements, the new scoreboard at the stadium and the electric announcement sign on Annie Glidden Road would not have been possible, Shur said.

NIU receives a small fee for listing the names of participating banks and financial institutions at the Automatic Teller Machines in the student center, he said.

“At some time, you need to balance against the pure economic necessity of bringing some income into an operation like the student center because the alternative to that is higher and increasing student fees.