Commercial Notetaking Task Force

Undergirding Principles

Educational Primacy

The University of Michigan has the highest educational objectives and a resolute commitment to achieving them. Policies and practices regarding commercial notetaking services should be developed within a framework that emphasizes the primacy we give to our students' educational experiences. This framework consists of a number of key components:

1. the instructor, in consultation with his or her colleagues, should be able to design the instructional environment—including the materials distributed to students—in ways that are consistent with instructional objectives;
2. free and open discussion in the classroom should not be impeded;
3. student and faculty rights to privacy and intellectual inquiry should be respected; and
4. instructors should provide students with the best tools to support learning.

The University of Michigan is an institution with a consistent history of academic excellence. Traditionally, access to its faculty, its curriculum, and its classrooms has been reserved for enrolled students—students who have met admissions criteria, students who have paid tuition, students who have maintained academic and non-academic standards consistent with the tenets of the institutional mission. It is a privilege to have access to the expertise, pedagogy, disciplinary perspective, and unique intellectual lens the instructors at the University of Michigan bring to the classroom. Businesses that encroach uninvited on the University to exploit the fruits of the University violate and disrespect the University, its students, faculty, and tradition. Policies and practices regarding commercial notetaking services should be developed to maintain the privilege of access to the University's curriculum.

University-Based (8) Control

The University—which includes its faculty, administration, and students—must maintain its right to control its property, its affiliations, its classrooms, its intellectual property, and its work product. Policies and practices regarding commercial notetaking services should be developed to preserve University control over its domain.

Footnotes

1. Because University policy is unclear about who owns classroom/course content (lectures, notes, etc.) and because the task force was asked not to try to resolve this lack of clarity, the term "University-based" means some University affiliated entity whether it is the instructor, the Regents of the University, students, etc., or some combination thereof.

COMMERCIAL NOTETAKING TASK FORCE REPORT