UNC System will publish syllabus for every class, president says

[Coventina]

The UNC System is working on a policy to give the public a way to understand what content is being taught in classrooms. System President Peter Hans said the syllabus for every class at the public universities will be considered public record.

Hans made the announcement in an opinion piece published Thursday in McClatchy newspapers. He wrote the move is way to improve flagging confidence in the state's higher education system through transparency.

A syllabus lays out the readings and discussions that will be covered in any given course. The UNC System's policy would make these documents available to students who are considering taking a course. They would also be available to any member of the public who wants to see the course outline.

The policy is still in draft form and UNC System officials are collecting feedback from selected stakeholders. The final policy will also formalize the method that will be used on all 16 campuses to make these syllabi available.

https://www.wral.com/news/education/unc-system-syllabus-public-record-plan-december-2025/

**************************************************************************************************

FUCK THAT SHIT!!!

My course outlines, readings, and discussions are MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, thank you very much! They are given to my enrolled students as part of curriculum that they have paid for!

Holy fucking shit! If this idea becomes widespread, I'm headed for an early retirement.

[dalton99a]

1. It is state law in Texas.

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HB02504F.HTM

[Coventina]

2. Glad I'm not in Texas.

I'm not giving away my livelihood for free!

[AZJonnie]

3. Did your contract stipulate you were to retain intellectual property rights over your syllabi?

I believe it's settled law at this point that employers can make you forego intellectual property rights as a condition for one's employment. Most employees in most industries don't retain intellectual property rights on things they develop during the course of their employment (i.e. that they're being paid to develop), you'd probably need to be a contractor to maybe have that right, and even then, you'd be on the firmest legal ground if you'd negotiated it in advance.

I totally understand your sentiment and hate the idea, but as you suggest, retirement may be your only recourse. Or working as a contractor. UNLESS it was laid out in your original employment contract that you'd retain those rights, in which case, you may be able to prevail if you sue your employer

[Coventina]

4. Academics always retain their IP rights unless it is specifically stated that a particular project is exempt.

That's the way it has always worked at every institution I've ever worked for.

[AZJonnie]

5. Ah! So academics works differently than what I'm accustomed to

In that case, I hope you don't retire if it happens to you (unless you want to), and sue instead! To be clear, I'm no huge proponent of how things work in my world (computer stuff) anyway, I was just saying "how it is" for most of us out here

[NotHardly]

6. I always noted on my syllabi that they were copyrighted intellectual property

My course outlines, readings, and discussions, and PowerPoints, etc. were MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY,... Right there with you.

[Happy Hoosier]

7. This is now required in Indiana. NT

[eppur_se_muova]

8. So what ? Most of the students never read the syllabus. And the syllabus is nothing but an outline.

I taught at a school where they required the syllabus to be a description of every chapter in the book -- which still didn't tell you everything, because you needed to read the book to know what the descriptions meant. It literally ran to 20-30 pages for each course, which pretty well defeats the whole point of writing a summary. This is where CYA gets you.

The Syllabus is a CYA mechanism which has outlived its original purpose at most schools. I don't know how many times I've been asked a question by one of my students -- When is the test ? What are your office hours ? How can I get the notes from the class(es) I missed ? -- to which I answered "That's in the syllabus" (because that's *EXACTLY* why there is a syllabus) knowing FULL WELL that the next question they would ask would be "Where can I get a copy of the Syllabus ?" which was handed out in first class meeting, and each class meeting for the next two weeks began with "Is there anyone who didn't get a copy of the syllabus ?" (and I usually kept extra syllabi in a big envelope or folder on my door, marked "SYLLABI" ). No matter how much you emphasize to the students that they need to hang on to the syllabus and always keep it with the notes for the course, and REFER TO IT WHEN THEY HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW THE COURSE IS RUN, the overwhelming majority treat it as a piece of paper to be set aside after the quickest glance of the contents. It's not worth the waste of paper -- the better students don't need it, and the worse students don't use it.

Parents (PACs, actually) who demand these precise syllabi have no idea what's actually involved in teaching, or learning for that matter. They think everyone sits down and reads the same thing out of the same book and all the discussion and questions are preordained. In the conservative mindset, that's how it should be done, because the whole point is indoctrination with one and only one point of view. In the real world, trying to live by one and only one POV will get you pushed to the fringes of society, fast. And a POV is pretty worthless in the experimental OR observational sciences where every opinion is subject to revision following the next unexpected empirical result or observation -- in other words, Nature abhors the conservative mindset.

[ColoringFool]

9. When I Taught HS English, I Had To Submit A Syllabus To The State.....

Noting how the lessons fulfilled state (PA) requirements.

But when I was retiring and a peer whom I very much disliked asked me for any OF MY DESIGNED tests, quizzes, and/or notes to ease her into the course, I enjoyed answering, "Nope!"

The details belonged to ME.