Versity Blues: seeing the controversy from all sides

This weekend, Versity.com, an Internet-based company that distributes notes from universities across the country, removed all material for Yale courses from its website. The decision to take down the notes came shortly after Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead's, BR '68, GRD '72, announcement last week, e-mailed to all undergraduates, that Yale's vice president and general counsel had made a written demand that Versity.com "cease posting notes from Yale courses on its website and remove any notes that had previously been posted."

CAYTE PUSHKAREVA/YH Despite professors' objections, some students have found Versity.com to be helpful.

According to Janet Cardinell, director of campus relations at Versity.com, the notes were removed because Versity.com still "want-ed the opportunity to talk with the Dean's Office." She explained, "We were contacted by the Administration. We took the notes down for the whole campus as a courtesy to the Administration so we could open up the dialogue—it was a gesture of goodwill. We think this is a great opportunity to work with [the Administration], and we're looking forward to the opportunity. What we want to do is cooperate."

Cardinell stated that Versity.com has been trying to contact Brodhead's office since December 1999 in order to ask for permission to begin its operations at Yale. "We sent e-mail, voice mail, and letters, but never received a response," she said. The company decided to begin on-campus marketing in January, despite the lack of communication from the Dean's office. Cardinell explained, "We usually get student note-takers first, which helps identify which classes we're going to be working with."

Lydia Monroy, PC '00, Versity.com's Yale campus operations manager, noted that students seemed very receptive to the company's presence. "People jumped on it quickly," Monroy said. "We already had note-takers for 37 classes in a couple of weeks, even though we hadn't hit [the campus] that hard."

Nor was the enthusiasm for Versity.com confined to students who are in it for the money. According to Monroy, "after less than two weeks, approximately 15 percent" of the total undergraduate body was registered on Versity.com's site. By Cardinell's estimate, up until the notes were removed, "17 percent of all students had registered, and were using notes on the site." She added, "The students really value those notes."

Professor Robert Sternberg, who teaches introductory psychology, disagreed with Car-dinell and Monroy's assessment of the situation. "This whole enterprise seems wrong to me," he said. "It is basically a profit-making idea in the guise of helping students." Regarding his lectures, Sternberg added, "Much of what I do is spontaneous. I don't think you get the same value from online notes."

Chinese history Professor Jonathan Spence's, SY '61, GRD '65, main concern, however, was the inability of the professor to play a role in the process. Although he did not wish to comment on the quality of the online notes, he stated that "professors should be asked about their notes, and they should be able to make their own summaries and put them on the web." He was also concerned that online notes do not provide the proper context for understanding a lecture, stating, "In my lectures, I talk around and at the reading."

In several past instances, Versity.com has worked with University administrators to create a solution that satisfies the school's professors. According to Cardinell, permission-based systems were implemented at Stanford, the University of Vermont, and the University of Michigan, such that only those professors who wished to participate in the online notes process would do so.

Meanwhile, Yale is confronted with the reality that students have actually made use of Versity.com's services, and that there might be a real need on the Yale campus for an online note-sharing system. Monroy agrees, but insists that Versity.com could still play an important role in the development of such a system. "It would be a great idea if the University had its own internal [note-sharing service], but through Ver-sity.com there could be a way to restrict access to notes only to Yale students."

A note-taker for Versity.com who posts notes for both History 202 and Economics 116 and who wished to remain anonymous agreed with Monroy. "I'd be really disappointed if the University couldn't work something out with the company because it's a really good resource," she said. "Versity is willing to come up with a system that will work for everyone." But, she warned, "Education will be revolutionized by the Internet, and if Yale doesn't jump on the bandwagon now, it'll be sorry in the long run."

An expanded version of this article will be available online at yaleherald.com.

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