Eastern Committee Wrestles

With Online Notes

There are ways to earn money, but until now, no one has paid students for what they are supposed to do--- going to classes.

But, with the advent of the Internet, all that has changed, and some professors are seeing red over it.

Versity.com, a website started by four undergraduates at the University of Michigan, has added Eastern into its list of universities where students are assigned to take lecture notes in class, post in on their website and get paid for it.

46 courses from Eastern are currently listed on the website including courses such as American Constitution (PLS 1153), Business Statistics (BUS 2810) and Newswriting I ( JOU 2101).

Prerequisites for being  a note taker or "Class Research Coordinator" include, among other qualifications, a 3.0 grade point average. The coordinators are required to turn in their lecture notes online within 24 hours of the class. Besides coordinators, the website is also hiring Market Representatives and Campus Operations Managers.

Note takers and representatives are paid a salary and possible bonuses, while campus operations managers may be offered shared of a pre-IPO internet company.

The web site inccurred the wrath of professors across the country because of a legal issue- the possible theft of intellectual property. Some professors are furious because some lectures has taken years of research while others may  involve patent issues. Others feel it is more of an issue of copyright and the work they into the lectures being "stolen" by their students. In late February, Yale University sent a cease and desist letter to Versity.com with which the company complied, according to the issue of Yahoo Internet Life.

Eastern's faculty senate is currently looking into the legal issues involved in posting notes online and also whether posting lecture notes online will be a violation of the student conduct code.

"We are a state institution and I don't know the extent we are able to deal with it, unlike private schools," said Keith Kohanzo, judicial affairs officer. "It's actually a legal question."

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