While UI faculty and students have mixed feelings on the notes, ISU students are prohibited from selling theirs.

By Jessi Todden

The Daily Iowan

Versity.com has recently come under scrutiny at Iowa State University for posting lecture notes on its Web site -- a practice which some consider theft of intellectual property.

ISU recently outlawed students from selling notes to companies such as Versity.com without first getting permission from the faculty member whose class the notes would cover. Students who are caught selling their notes to one of these companies without permission could face expulsion.

Versity.com, along with similar Web sites, provides several services for college students including lecture notes, novel notes, practice exams, books and a search engine that finds definitions and links to several subjects.

The UI has no policy concerning the companies, although some professors have been grappling with the issue for some time.

"I've been against any note-taking service coming into my class for about 10 years," said Jay Holstein, a UI professor of religion. "It's counterproductive for students to buy notes rather than attend class."

Holstein blames the UI for consistently refusing to intervene in a "meaningful fashion" to eliminate note-taking companies from invading his classes.

Although there have been discussions about it, the UI has no plans to prohibit students from selling their notes, said Mark Schantz, the UI general council.

The Web sites have some fans on the UI campus. Junior Chad Kiefer said he often looks up class notes at Versity.com and at other sites similar to it because they are helpful study aids.

"I don't think the UI should ban these sites from campus," he said. "They provide a service to students, while not hurting the UI."

Steve Parrott, the director of University Communications, suggested that students be careful when buying notes from other people. He said he doesn't blame professors for being upset with the note companies because their work is being sold without their consent.

Online lecture notes can be a good additional resource for students, but they may not be the most accurate, said Lisa Troyer, a UI assistant professor of sociology. To illustrate, she mentioned a story about a former note-taker enrolled in her class last semester who ended up failing the course.

Troyer said she doesn't consider interpretations of her lectures to be theft of intellectual property.

"It would be theft if one were to publish one of my outlines word for word," she said.

One reason Cary Covington, a UI associate professor of political science, posts his own notes on his class Web site is to deter students from using online notes.

"Those notes in conjunction with their own notes may be helpful. However, they shouldn't replace them," he said.

His Web site is the "bare bones" of his lectures and is primarily for students to have another tool for understanding his lectures, Covington said.

UI senior Peter Rosen, a former note-taker for I-Notes -- a now defunct note-taking service at the UI -- was motivated by the money, but said he doesn't think the companies are infringing on professors' intellectual property.

"Students could get notes for free from other students, which is the same as buying them from I-Notes," he said.