I’m taking an ethics class. Its not good for a number of reasons. But a big one is that we didn’t buy a book. The instructor typed up notes from a book (all correctly attributed, lots and lots of in-text attributions) and posted them on the web. There is a small (perhaps as much as 10%) amount of additional material, and I suspect much of the material has been rewritten in the instructor’s own words. (And, to be honest, I don’t know if this is the instructor, or if the course is always taught this way and these are four year old department notes).
Now, me, I like to read books, not notes. And, while I’m sure a lot of students are quite pleased with not having to buy a $75 textbook, I’d rather have bought the book. So there is my own personal bias.
But part of me thinks the professor who wrote the book we are being taught from would have liked to see the royalties from his work. And that handing out notes where 90% of the material is from the same source (we are talking nearly 500 pages of notes) is not ethical and this isn’t just my own personal bias.
So, I’m I just being a prig, or is something wrong here?
Academics in specialized fields know their books aren’t going to be money makers. Sure, it’d be nice to write the textbook that becomes the industry standard, but it most likely won’t happen.
How much are you paying for the handouts? As unreasonably as textbooks are priced, creating that many copies on the department budjet seems a bit sketchy. So one supposes there is a bit of a dilemma.
But consider who is bearing the costs. Many students aren’t getting financial aid and the cost of texts weighs heavily on them. The relative burden may be much higher for them than it is for the author who isn’t getting royalties or the department if it’s paying for the copies.
I’m curious why you don’t ask the prof, and discuss it as a practical exercise.
The class is being taught independant study, so I’ve never talked to the prof. I don’t have a read on him and don’t know if he is the type to take this well or not.
The notes are on the web, so no copy charges unless you’d print them out at someplace like Kinkos.
My mother in law used to work in publishing, there are more people who make money off the sale of books than just the author, and all of them lose in this transaction as well.
Have they covered conflating legality with morality in your class yet?
The basic premises of the OP’s dilemma appear to be that someone wants to get paid, and that the proportion of referenced text is unreasonably high. I really don’t see how those premises lead to the conclusion that the prof is acting unethically, given my experience with academic authors.
I’m sure he isn’t the copyright holder. He may have permission, but if he does so, it should IMO be explicitly stated in the notes.
And I’m not sure my only dilemma is the author getting paid. Its a business ethics course, so I’m also concerned about his intellectual property rights independant of compensation as well as the publishing house’s rights. I think fair use does play into my uncomfortableness.
If this is “independent study” are you referring to a distant learning course?
Have you asked the prof about the ethics of his behavior? This would seem appropriate as the first stem in resolving ethical conflicts is through informal means.
Issues such as intellectual property rights, fair use for education, and morality of behavior are all pertinent to an ethics course, why not post these onthe message board (assuming there is one) or ask the prof to cover these issues.
Hard to answer if you are being “a prig” but it sounds like it is not a great course up to this point…
Since I’ve written a couple of books that are used as textbooks, I think I have an opinion on this one
First, if the prof doesn’t have permission, this is illegal and unethical, and he has no business teaching an ethics course. It’s like breaking into someone’s home and holding a property rights class in their living room without permission. Sheesh!
Second, despite js_africanus’s comments, there are indeed people who attempt to make a living writing textbooks (1). The author doesn’t get to set the price. The publisher does that. If your prof is illegally retyping hundreds of pages of material onto the web, he is directly hurting the author.
(1): QUESTION: What’s the difference between a textbook author and a large pizza? ANSWER: A large pizza can feed a family of four.
No, its independant study. Although there is a web BBS, it isn’t much used and the prof has never responded to anything there. i.e there is no “covering this in class option.” Its read the notes, take the online quizzes, do the case studies.
I’ve been burned by instuctors in the past where I’ve felt I’ve done high quality work but my grade hasn’t reflected it and where the instructor and I have had disagreements. Perhaps my work was subpar, but I don’t think so. (I also once got a B I didn’t deserve because the prof was sleeping with one of the student and gave everyone an A or a B - that wasn’t too ethical either.). I’m hesitant to bring it up while I have a grade on the line, particularly since I’ve had almost no communication with him. I’ll bring it up after I no longer have a grade to worry about.
If this were being taught in a classroom with give and take, this would be a great case study. However, it isn’t. And there is a tone to the syllabus that makes me think he won’t take being questioned by a “mere undergrad” well (he seems rather full of himself).
In this case, I think morality and legality are pretty much the same: it’s legal and moral to use a sample of someone else’s work but it’s immoral and illegal to copy a significant portion of it.
I have just figured out why I’m uncomfortable bring this to the professor. My reaction was sort of like IWs - and since I see it as clearly unethical behavior I’m not sure what he would stoop to in terms of my grade if I were to bring it up.
The copyright holder, or at least the author, is easy enough to find. As I said, it isn’t plagerized, its very well footnoted. About two minutes of google searching got me an email address. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet.
