TORONTO -- Hundreds of students at the city's most high-profile art college are crying foul after some of them were forced to buy an art history textbook that didn't contain any pictures.

At least 500 students have signed a petition protesting the fact that first year students at the Ontario College of Art and Design were forced to shell out $180 for the unillustrated text. Students are expected to use two separate e-readers to reference the pictures that were left out of the book due to copyright concerns.

"Global Visual and Cultural Material: Prehistory to 1800" is a mandatory purchase for most first-year students, many of whom say they resent having to devote scarce funds to an incomplete product.

"I feel like because we are students we are little easier to take advantage of because we're in a situation where we want to buy the textbook to do well in class," said second-year student Sofia del Junco, who is repeating the course. "This is an awful first impression for students who are studying at OCAD for the first time."

Del Junco spearheaded the online petition, which calls for students to be reimbursed for their incomplete purchase.

Student outcry prompted OCAD officials to hold a meeting to address their concerns.

Kathryn Shailer, the dean of faculty of liberal arts and sciences, said she wanted to hold the meeting to "clear the air because there was an awful amount of misinformation going around the internet."

"There are just too many copyright issues with the pictures that were meant to be in the textbook," Shailer told the meeting.

If the book had been printed with the copyrighted pictures, Shailer said the cost of the book would have shot up to $800 -- more than the course itself.

Shailer first saw the art-free book on Aug. 15, she said, adding it was too late to make any changes by then.

Several students spoke up at the tense meeting voicing their displeasure with the situation.

Many of them raised concerns over the amount of time it would take to constantly flip between the textbook and the computer.

Mature students pointed out that the current e-reader solution wasn't feasible for scholars who weren't as tech-savvy as their younger peers.

Shailer said she planned to meet with the book's publisher, Pearson Canada, on Thursday. She assured students she would offer a solution by Monday at the latest.