In an exclusive report Campus Reform, a conservative watchdog covering college news, says that Indiana-based University of Notre Dame has warned students against sharing recordings of live classes outside of the school.
Those found defying this policy will face “severe sanctions,” an internal email the website says it has obtained (and posted as a screenshot) further adds.
This problem has arisen due to the coronavirus outbreak that is keeping schools closed and instead offering remote classes to students.
In the email, the university is adamant that recordings of classes, learning materials, and even behavior of classmates or teachers on social media is prohibited for any reason.
The ban extends to private communication and information that might be shared online, but specifically, “for the purpose of inviting external commentary, ridicule, or embarrassment.”
In other words, no jokes or pranks in the new era of remote learning, and no insights into the way the college life works and what they teach.
Otherwise, this “especially egregious violation may lead to severe sanctions,” the university warns.
But it’s more than setting some rules around a new reality and circumstances and enforcing them to protect the school’s reputation. Politics had to lurk in there somewhere, and according to Campus Reform, it reared its ugly heard earlier, when some professors said they were worried “right-wing sites” might gain access to their online lectures.
Specifically, these professors are gearing to protect what they see as lecturing on controversial matters. That’s something conservative sites would love to get their hands on, according to them, and will do so thanks to students who share these materials, tweeted Emily Farris, a professor at Texas Christian University.
Several of her colleagues shared their concern that secrecy surrounding online lectures might not be properly preserved in this day and age.
A Notre Dame student, who asked to remain anonymous, told Campus Reform that not sharing course materials was fine by them, but that keeping mum about a possible transgression of a professor – such as “harassing conservatives, or being unfair to any student” – might be a little more difficult.
Keeping a lid on this kind of goings-on looks more like a policy enacted by a re-education camp than a college, the anonymous student observed.
