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Volume CXXXII, Number 11 |
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Colleges alters viewing policy
HANNAH DEAN
STAFF WRITER
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| A student views an educational video in the privacy of his dorm room. New policies will require a stricter regulation of copyrighted videos and may involve a fee. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient) |
As a result of several factors that influence the showing of films on campus, Bowdoin College has decided to become stricter in terms of enforcing copyright laws concerning the viewing of videos by groups of students. Public performance laws demand that a fee be paid if the film in question is being shown to a wider audience. If the film is shown without paying the fees, the company that owns the film can fine the college.
Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Deb DeGraff, however, emphasized that "Nothing has changed, but the college has established a new policy to try to ensure that we are doing everything we can to adhere to the copyright law in terms of how videos and dvds are used in the classroom."
While the larger film presences on campus - such as the Bowdoin Film Society and BCN - already strictly adhere to copyright law, it is the more informal cases of film showings that are in danger of infringing on required regulations. "Copyright law regarding videos and films has been that they can be used for instructional purposes at educational institutions without acquiring copyright but that is only to be used in the context of the class. For use in the classroom, you don't need the public performance rights for anything that is shown, said DeGraff."
The question now surrounds showings in the classroom-which are being advertised as open to a wider audience and which are simply being shown to students in the course. The law strictly states that "you can only show the films to students involved in the class," for example, said DeGraff, "You can't allow other non-participating students or Brunswick citizens who are aware of the film showing to sit in." As a result, Bowdoin College has taken steps to ensure that these infringements do not occur. Primarily, this means a slight change in the way that professors advertise film showings.
"What we have done that is new is to try to say that when faculty are going to be showing films and videos, and they list these films on the website, they have to include a disclamer saying that the showings are only open to the students in the class," DeGraff said. The stricter policy will also effect Bowdoin College publications such as the Bowdoin Orient and the Bowdoin Sun. "They are also not allowed to announce the showings places targeting a wider audience that are not within copyright laws."
However, there is nothing terribly new about the law. "It shouldn't affect the way that faculty use films and videos in their teaching. What changes very slightly is that we are going to be a little more vigilant about making sure that only the students taking classes view the films being shown" DeGraff said.
The new college policy was implemented as companies that own films have open access to the websites that more and more professors are creating. If it seems that the professor is opening the film viewings to a wider audience and violating the copyright law, the company has the right to call the institution in violation and demand that fees be paid.
Furthermore, the stricter policy may have some effect on more informal student film showings. Degraff said "more informally, when student groups are showing films and videos, there have probably been instances where they have not gone through the process required to attain proper rights to the movie being shown."
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