I’ve seen it happen, time and time again. Instructors love to have sample work to show incoming students what they’re looking for in an assignment, and students love to have their professor ask to use their work. But what kind of rights are you and are you not signing away?
Copyright law prefers a written agreement whenever the right to use something is transferred. Thus, anytime your instructor wants to use your work for something other than evaluation, a written agreement should be in place. Oral agreements don’t suffice, as they don’t protect you or your instructor from potential problems in the future. In fact, most legal minds will tell you not to use email to form an agreement in this area.
That’s why I recommend you use a written form to grant rights to your professor or anyone else who wants to use a work you create. The System Director for Intellectual Property, with input from MSCSA, developed a form specifically for this purpose: the Student Work “Scope of Use” Permission Form. It is very straightforward, and you can find it on my blog: mscsa.org/prez This form, as a written agreement, is the best and easiest legal way to grant rights to your instructor to use your work for anything other than evaluation. Imagine instead that instructors could claim that students orally gave them permission to use a work. What you put long hours into could be used in situations that you didn’t intend–without your consent or knowledge. The form protects not just you and your work, but also protects your instructor from getting in trouble.
You’ll also notice that there is no checkbox on the form which says “For Profit.” This is because you should really come up with your own agreement. Don’t willy-nilly grant the right to someone else to use something you did for profit! If there is profit to be gained from your essay, play, research project, or whatever, then you deserve some of that profit! So work hard in class, but remember to use the right form if your instructor asks permission to use your work.
The Board of Trustees is hosting listening sessions (public forums), where they will be listening to public concerns about higher education and the rising cost of tuition, as well as ideas for improvement in the MnSCU system. These are the questions they will be focusing on:
What are the most significant changes or challenges affecting public higher education in Minnesota?
How can the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities add value and better meet your needs now and in the future?
Given the fiscal and demographic challenges facing postsecondary education, what should the system's priorities be for the next five to 10 years?
There will be sessions at Hennepin Technical College, Brooklyn Park (Thursday, Jan 21, 6-8pm), Minnesota State University Moorhead (Wednesday, Jan 27, 2-4pm), Alexandria Technical College (Thursday, Jan 28, 12:30-2:30pm) and Minnesota State University, Mankato (Monday, Feb 1, 6-8pm). These are excellent opportunities for us as students to let our voice be heard, and to let the board know that we really do care about rising tuition costs in a time when higher education is so necessary.
If you are near one of those campuses, I encourage you to attend and to speak about your experience as a student! If you are planning on speaking at one of these events, MSCSA Director of Public Affairs Jessica Meadearis would love to hear from you first. Call the office at 651-297-5877 or
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with your thoughts.Click here to read more details of the listening sessions on MnSCU's website.
Student Work “Scope of Use” Permission Form
