Legal Issues

Copyright & Fair Use

"Fair use" is an important, but not particularly simple concept. It means that we may make copies of copyrighted materials for our students without getting permission only under a number of specific conditions, e.g., you made the decision shortly before class, the item is short, you don't do it very often, and you don't do it again with the same work.

Coursepacks never qualify for "fair use." If you give hard-copy or digital coursepacks to your students and don't go through the NYU Book Stores (where they make sure permissions are obtained), you must get permission from the NYU Office of Legal Counsel if you want them to defend or indemnify you if someone accuses you of copyright infringement. (Do not trust off-campus copy shops to get permissions. We know that they often do not and if you get in trouble you will want NYU's support.) The same thing goes for most cases, unless you go through the NYU Book Stores or buy directly from the publisher.

Fortunately, many of the periodicals we use in our courses are available through the NYU Libraries, e.g. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Financial Times, The Economist, and most academic journals. If you locate something there you want your students to have, you may post a link to it in NYU Classes (if you have trouble with the linking process, contact the Stern Help Desk - helpdesk@stern.nyu.edu). Note that you may not post the article itself.


A summary of what we can do:

  1. Have the NYU Book Stores or another service that takes responsibilities for copyright clearance, assemble and sell our course packs and cases.
  2. Find materials in Bobst Library's online databases and give students the links to them.
  3. Find materials online and give students the links to the Web sites where they are located.
  4. Do anything we want with materials we created ourselves, whose copyrights we own.
  5. Spontaneously reproduce and distribute copyrighted materials as long as it fits within the definition of "fair use."

Recommending Students

You may be asked by recruiters for our opinions of students. Under FERPA (the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act of 1974), here's what we may and may not do:

We may not discuss any aspect of a student’s academic record with or provide contact information to parents, potential employers, or other outsiders, unless the student has given us written permission. The courses in which a student is enrolled or has taken in the past is protected information, so we have to be careful not to reveal it.

So, if a recruiter says he has heard that a specific student is or was in your class, you may not confirm the student’s enrollment in your class. If the recruiter asks for the names of students in your class whom you would recommend, you may not provide the list.

However, if a recruiter asks whether you know a specific student and whether he or she is a good student or you would recommend the student for a job, you may give your opinion, reveal what you know by observation, and say that you would or would not recommend him or her. You may also give the recruiter a list of students who have impressed you. But, you may not reveal what course a student is taking or took with you (or the student’s grades).

If you want to avoid all this, just get permission from the student (in writing) to have a more candid discussion with the recruiter.

Attached is a more complete set of student privacy guidelines (including legal ways to return assignments to students). You can find NYU’s complete guidelines for the implementation of FERPA here: http://www.nyu.edu/apr/ferpa.htm.


Students with Disabilities

If you give in-class exams, you may have students approach you to ask for accommodations. To help us make reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) provides a variety of services. Most commonly used by Stern faculty are examination services for students who need extended time.

So you can be prepared to respond, here is a quick overview of students' rights, our responsibilities, and the way NYU's CSD can help.
  1. So we don't have to figure out who is eligible and what to do, students must register with the CSD. They should do this as early as possible in their time at NYU.
  2. Students eligible for and wishing to request accommodations must present you with a letter from the CSD verifying their registration and recommending accommodations.
  3. In some cases, you will be able to provide what they need (usually extended time or distraction-free room for an exam) without assistance. If you cannot, students should arrange to take their exams at the CSD. To do this they must present you with an Exam Accommodations Form, which they must return to the CSD at least a week before the exam.
  4. To the extent possible, exams at the CSD should be begin at the same time the exam begins for other students. When this is not possible, we recommend that exams be administered earlier.
  5. Students should make arrangements for all scheduled exams as early as possible in the semester. They are also responsible for reminding faculty to forward exam materials to the CSD in a timely fashion.
We strongly recommend that all faculty add a statement like the following to their syllabi:
If you have a qualified disability and will require academic accommodation during this course, please contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities and provide me with a letter from them verifying your registration and outlining the accommodations they recommend. If you will need to take an exam at the CSD, you must submit a completed Exam Accommodations Form to them at least one week prior to the scheduled exam time to be guaranteed accommodation.

If you have questions, the CSD is very helpful and you should feel free to contact them.