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On-line notes beneficial

To the Editor,

I am appalled at the selfishness that has been displayed by certain members of our faculty. For the two years that I've attended this university, I've heard from countless professors that success is easily achieved by using every academic resource available. Many times in office hours, during lectures, and on course syllabi, there are references to outside sources that have information that can be beneficial when you need clarification on a subject. Now, when there is a comprehensive resource that offers not only class notes for free, but also the assistance of an on-line research center, the faculty on this campus is posing opposition to such a resource. It seems illogical that those who are supposed to have our best interest at heart are standing against such a beneficial web-site.

If Leslie Cohen is concerned with the quality of the notes available, then maybe she could cooperate with the notetakers to ensure accuracy. If Richard Metcalf is so concerned with people distributing his mental knowledge without compensating him, then maybe he should start charging the accounting tutors offering their services on campus. That notion is ridiculous, people share what they learned in class everyday and professors have no problems then. This is the same thing via an electronic medium, and now there's uproar about it.

Versity.com clearly states that their notes are supplemental to the lectures, not a replacement for them. Sometimes sitting in the back of a crowded lecture is not conducive to learning, but couple that with unlimited free access to on-line notes and you've got a real opportunity to absorb the information. The faculty and administrative officials at this school should applaud Versity.com for providing another venue to learn the information we are already paying for. In a sense, the on-line notes are similar to concert reviews in the Wildcat. A person pays for the right to attend and then documents what they observed. Versity.com strictly forbids the theft of intellectual property, which means that notetakers are not permitted to directly transcribe lectures. Versity instructs the notetakers to provide a concise summary of each lecture, and the UA legal department could've known that if they had simply visited the site.

We, as students, need to stand up for services that provide us with means to make school less of a burden. The faculty of this school needs to relax. If we do better, then why is there a problem?

Luke Denmon

Marketing Junior