In light of a recent lawsuit over the use of course syllabi, the Faculty Senate decided to postpone legislation involving the copyright laws of class materials in a meeting Monday.
The UW System is facing legal action after denying the National Council on Teacher Quality’s open records requests to review syllabi from courses within UW System schools of education.
Arthur McKee, the council’s managing director for teacher preparation studies, said the group is compiling information to rate teacher preparation programs nationwide.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the system denied the request because the documents are protected by state copyright laws because they are the intellectual property of the professors who draft them.
University Committee Chair Brad Barham said the committee chose to postpone the legislation because it believed the faculty needed to have a longer discussion about the issue.
“We would like to place this issue in a broader discussion of intellectual property that the provost is going to organize with a short term task force,” said Barham.
Barham said the resolution will probably not be presented to the senate again until next fall.
Also at the meeting, the senate also awarded four university faculty members with the distinguished Hilldale Award in recognition of their teaching careers and exceptional service to the university.
Alfred W. McCoy from the arts and humanities division, Charles A. Mistretta from the biological sciences division, Alexander J. Nagel from the physical sciences division and John F. Witte from the social studies division received the award.
Also at the meeting, Sara Goldrick-Rab, chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Recruitment, Admission and Financial Aid, presented the committee’s annual report for the past three years.
The report recommended the faculty senate continue its commitment to diversity on campus and continue to advocate for college affordability, Goldrick-Rab said.
