I’m concerned a teacher in my school is using their lectures to teach racist material. I’m wondering if I’m within my rights to publish the prof’s syllabus online so as to bring attention to what they’re up to. I know that the contents of lectures are their IP, but what about their syllabus? Can I legally post a prof’s syllabus (in particular, the list of authors they use) online?
cheers.
and I will assume you are not lawyers unless it is explicitly stated otherwise.
The syllabus itself is copyrightable, but not the information within it. If all you want to do is publish the list of authors and works on the syllabus, I see no reason why you can’t. If you post the syllabus wod-for-word, that’s probably a violation of the prof’s copyright.
Why online? Take it directly to the dean or department chair.
Why not ask the professor about the choices?
I’m not sure how you could determine that a teacher is teaching “racist material” (what does that mean exactly?) by examining a list of authors.
Case in point: If you said your teacher was teaching works by Hitler, David Duke, George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, and Louis Farrakhan, I would think two things: “All of those people are fairly racist” and “This should keep me awake!” Seriously - it’s not what you teach, it’s how you teach it. The teacher could be examining the flaws in their reasoning - or better yet, letting you analyze the flaws in their reasoning. Or teaching you to read things that you would otherwise avoid in order to broaden your understanding of our world. There’s just no telling without a little more context.
That said, give us the list. We have become curious.
Exactly.
When i teach nineteenth century history, i assign a bunch of Southern authors who defend slavery. These authors often use arguments about the alleged physiological, mental, cultural, social, and developmental inferiority of blacks. The purpose of assigning these works is not to agree with the authors’ positions about race and slavery, but to show students the types of arguments that some nineteenth century Americans made about these issues. We contrast their arguments with those of Northern abolitionists and other writers of the period, in an attempt to get an overall perspective on American intellectual history in the antebellum years.
As for the IP question, simply giving someone listing the books on the syllabus should not be a problem. Maybe you could even just give a link? I know that i post my syllabus on a website for my students to look at, and many college teachers do this nowdays. If your prof has a website with the syllabus online, you might be able to link to it, essentially removing any concerns about intellectual property issues.
But i think you’ll need more than just a syllabus to sustain an allegation of racism.
The list! Let’s have the list! And a description of what you believe the teacher is teaching that’s racist!
-FrL-
I agree with the comments above. I teach with articles in favor of lobotomy and diagnoses such as “masturbatory insanity.” The point, of course, is to try to understand why this used to be state-of-the-art care, and why it is no longer so.
If your professor’s syllabus is already online (e.g., on the department’s website), you could link to it.