Notehall.com, a website that buys and sells class notes, has been recruiting IUS students as note-takers.
However, the students participating in this have misrepresented IU Southeast and violated the Student Code of Conduct by selling notes and handouts.
Seuth Chaleunphonh, dean of students and director of Campus Life, said IU Southeast is bringing out awareness of this issue before it becomes a bigger problem.
Chegg.com, a website which allows the purchase or selling of textbooks, has been e-mailing students who buy books on their website to recruit them as note-takers for Notehall.
This situation was brought to attention at the beginning of the fall semester when students began purchasing books and then receiving these e-mails.
The e-mails some students have received from Chegg makes it appear there is a physical note-taking position at IU Southeast, causing them to misrepresent the university.
“They appear like they’re trying to represent the university,” Chaleunphonh said, “so we wanted to warn students that this company does not represent the university, and it would be against the Code of Conduct to sell notes on Oncourse claiming to be an official note-taker.”
He also said these positions are not official positions, and students cannot utilize Oncourse for commercial activity.
“If students are selling things using Oncourse and the university network, that’s not an educational purpose,” Chaleunphonh said.
Jeremy Collins, adjunct professor of English, said he does not think students would learn anything if they continued selling notes on Notehall.
“Students are able to regurgitate material for the semester, but real learning isn’t going to be taking place, and they aren’t going to be able to make the material their own,” Collins said.
Collins said he would not approve of his students buying or selling their notes through Notehall.
“Oftentimes, college students are broke, and they need money,” Collins said. “Some of them are looking for a way to outsource their labor or some short cut to learning. As an instructor, I would have a problem with that.”
While there have been a few cases, Chaleunphonh said it seems more students are being affected.
“If this continues, we certainly will be doing more, but, as of now, we just want to warn students and faculty,” Chaleunphonh said. “We see this more as a public service announcement.”
Chaleunphonh said no one has been charged for violating the Student Code of Conduct.
“It’s not a rampant outbreak of these cases,” Chaleunphonh said, “but we wanted to get ahead of the trend.”
Chaleunphonh said if students were to violate the Student Code of Conduct by selling notes or handouts on Oncourse, it would be handled on a case-by-case basis. However, Chaleunphonh said he is not telling students not to purchase books from Chegg.
“I am cognizant of respecting what Notehall does and how they justify their existence,” Chaleunphonh said. “We just don’t want IUS to be associated with it.”
By AYSIA HOGLE
Staff
ahogle@umail.iu.edu
