With a recently proposed policy by ASMSU, students might have a one-stop shop to find their course syllabi, book lists and professor contact information when determining their class schedules.
ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, proposed a policy to the Steering Committee at Tuesday’s meeting requesting faculty members to provide their course’s syllabus, or an abbreviated version, with the list of books, office hours, contact information and the tentative schedule and grading scale, to an online forum where students could view the syllabi before enrolling in a class, hopefully on the course description website, said ASMSU Vice President for Academic Affairs Emily Bank.
At the meeting, Bank asked committee members for recommendations on how to move forward with the policy.
Bank said it could allow students to schedule their agendas in advance before enrollment, save time and lessen the stress of the unknowns a new course might bring. Duke University and Stanford University have similar databases, she said.
“I just have three, 20-25 page papers due in two weeks,” Bank said. “I would have utilized this just to see what the schedule … would have been like so I wouldn’t have this burden on me.”
Assistant law professor Jennifer Carter-Johnson, who specializes in intellectual property law, said the syllabi, as a form of fixed creative expression, are copyrighted as the property of the author, which in this case is the faculty member, and they cannot be forced to share their intellectual property.
“It’s the act of fixating that makes it copyrighted,” she said. “Once you have a copyright on something, you then have the right to determine how it is used — whether it is sold or published on a website.”
Bank said the professors can choose if they want to share their syllabi and Carter-Johnson said there can be employment negotiations made between the university and the employee to require the employee to share.
Italian professor Joseph Francese, chairperson of the University Committee on Academic Governance, said he has not hesitated to share his syllabi with a student who is interested in one of his classes.
“Students have written to me in advance asking me for my syllabi, and I sent them my syllabus in an email,” he said, adding he wouldn’t have a problem sharing it on a database.
As a parent, Francese said it has been helpful to know in advance what books his daughter would need for college.
MSU already requires professors to post the list of required textbooks online, Acting Provost June Youatt said during the meeting.
Apparel and textile design freshman Seneca Peters said she would find the database useful, but doesn’t think it would have any major effect on determining her class schedule.
“I’m not sure how often I’d use it,” she said. “It’s nothing but beneficial, and it’s just another resource.”
The committee members directed Bank to contact Associate Provost for Academic Services Linda Stanford on how to get the policy approved and implemented.
Bank said she hopes the database will take shape and be open in spring semester 2014.
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