Coursepack service under evaluation

It was a feat the winter 1999 Michigan Student Assembly was proud of finally achieving. But after running for one semester as a pilot program, the Student Coursepack Service is again out of commission as it undergoes evaluation.

The evaluation has taken longer than MSA expected and leaves the future of the SCS unclear to those involved.

Interim Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper is currently assessing the program with Jack Bernard, a policy analyst for the vice president and general counsel, and representatives from MSA.

"Once we finish, we'll have a better sense of where we want to go with this," Harper said.

At its meeting last night, MSA President Bram Elias said although the service isn't running this semester, "this year, we have a commitment from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs that the coursepack service will continue."

The non-profit service charged about half of what commercial copying businesses usually charge. In its first semester of operation, the SCS copied coursepacks for five courses.

Elias said MSA ran the SCS under the fair use doctrine of the copyright act of 1976. According to the fair use doctrine, "reproduction in copies ... for purposes such as criticism comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use) scholarship or research, is not an infringement of copyright."

One of four factors to consider in deciding whether a reproduction is fair use is "the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit."

Although supported by the fair use doctrine, SCS charged once cent per page in case any issues of copyright liability occurred.

"The time when organizations like the SCS need to pay copyright are few, farther between and less clear cut," Elias said.

But Elias said concerns about royalties and liability of SCS are being evaluated and perfected for future semesters.

"After working with the University, in conjunction with the vice president of student affairs' office in order to run the coursepack service as a pilot, our operation will have to be so well understood by everyone involved and so safely with an accepted legal thought as to preclude even the idea of a law suit," Elias said.

Impressed by the SCS , Prof. Ray Patterson at the University of Georgia's law school said publishers should not target the experimental coursepack service. "You have not seen the publishers sue either the professors or the students," Patterson said. "The publishers would be pretty foolish to come after students here," he insisted about the SCS, especially since it is a non-profit organization.

But Bruce Funkhouser, vice president of business operations at the Copyright Clearance Center, said he thinks the fair use doctrine of the Copyright Act applies only to those making copies for personal use.

The Copyright Clearance Center was established in 1978, on a mandate by the government to create a centralized organization to get permission to reproduce intellectual property.

Funkhouser said CCC's board of directors represents publishers, authors, corporate representatives and librarians - making up its university representation. But Funkhouser said it does not have student representation on its board of directors.

He said students concerned about the prices of coursepacks should consider that materials were more expensive before universities began using coursepacks because students had to purchase each book from which their professor assigned readings.

09-15-99