POLICY FOR AUDIO-RECORDING OF CLASSES: INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

ADOPTED BY THE FACULTY, APRIL 25, 2008

A. STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS

1. Recording by Students: Consistent with our mission of training lawyers who act with the highest standards of honesty, integrity and trustworthiness, and with respect for the legitimate interests of others, students are not permitted to record a class themselves by any means without prior express authorization of the faculty member. Violation of this rule may be deemed a violation of the Student Disciplinary Code.

2. Recording by the Law Center: The Law Center will record classes and make those recordings available to students only under the following circumstances and only if permitted by the faculty member:

a. Recording by the Law Center for Individual Students: All students are expected to attend class regularly and to miss class only in exceptional circumstances. Therefore, the Law Center will record classes for individual students only for the reasons set forth below and only with the approval of the appropriate Law Center administrator. Recording for individual students will be authorized only in the following situations:

(1) serious medical situation or family emergency;

(2) religious observance;

(3) to provide reasonable accommodation for a student with a disability, after consultation with the Coordinator of Disability Services;⁽¹⁾

(4) sanctioned participation in a Law Center approved moot court event held out of town;

(5) appearance in court in connection with a clinic in which the student is enrolled;

(6) rescheduled class;

(7) other comparably urgent reasons, and not including job interviews, vacation plans, minor illness, or work conflicts.

Students submit requests for the audio-recording of classes through the online request form located at http://www.law.georgetown.edu/ist/ (click on the link then select Audio Recording of Classes on the left). These requests are directed to the office of J.D. Academic Services or LL.M. Academic Services, as the case may be. Recording that is done pursuant to an approved request of an individual student will be made available only to that student in streaming audio format. Students who receive or are provided access to a Law Center recording of a class under this section are prohibited from downloading ⁽²⁾ the recording to a computer or other electronic device, or distributing the recording or any portion thereof to anyone.

b. Recording by the Law Center for the Entire Class: On occasion, the Law Center will record a class or classes and make the recording available to all students enrolled in that class. Such recording may be done at the request of an appropriate Law Center administrator on occasions when severe weather or similar conditions make it difficult for large numbers of students safely to come to the Law Center. Such recording may also be done at the request of the faculty. When classes are recorded under this provision, the recording will be made available to all students enrolled in the course in streaming audio format, but students are prohibited from downloading the recording to a computer or other electronic device, or distributing the recording or any portion thereof.

3. Distribution of Recordings Made by Students—Permission, Downloading and Distribution: If a student receives permission from a member of the faculty to record a class using equipment not provided by the law school, downloading such a recording to a computer or other electronic device, distributing such a recording to any other person or using the recording for any purpose other than the student’s own education is not allowed without express permission of the relevant member of the faculty. Unauthorized downloading or distribution of all or any portion of a permitted recording may be deemed a violation of the Student Disciplinary Code.

4. Retention of Recordings Made by the Law Center: The default rule is that class recordings made by the institution are only available to authorized students for 28 days after the date of the original recording. Recording will be retained for longer periods:

a. if a faculty member requests that a recording or recordings not be destroyed for some period of time; or

b. if the original circumstance for recording the class continues to exist AND the student asks the appropriate administrator at least three days before the recording would normally be destroyed to retain the recording. Retention under this provision may be allowed for no more than 14 additional days.

5. Recordings Authorized by a Member of the Faculty: Nothing in this policy bars a member of the faculty from authorizing any of her or his classes to be recorded either by students or by the Law Center, streamed to students, downloaded or distributed. If a member of the faculty authorizes any such actions, she or he may impose restrictions on the classes to be recorded, the students given access to the recordings, the extent of downloading and distribution allowed and the length of time the recordings will be retained. In the absence of any express limitation imposed by a member of the faculty, no recording of a class may ever be made available to any person not registered in the course.

Caveats: Recording may be limited by available technology or demand, by equipment failure or human error; this policy is not a guarantee of successful recording. Recordings will be provided or made available under the circumstances, in the manner and for the time period to be specified by the Law Center.

B. STANDARDS FOR FACULTY

1. Default Rule for Recordings Made by the Law Center: This policy limits unauthorized student recording, downloading and distribution of class recordings. Under the policy, IST will audio record a class when authorized and students will be provided with a recording of a class session(s) in streaming audio format only under certain limited circumstances. The policy is an “OPT-IN” system for faculty. That is, classes are recorded by the Law Center and the recording is released to a student only with the affirmative agreement of the relevant member of the faculty. In the absence of a statement allowing recording of classes, the default position is that classes will not be recorded. ⁽³⁾  

2. Online Implementation: Unless a member of the faculty has requested that a class or a series of classes be recorded, the policy for institutional recording of classes at the request of a student will be implemented online. As noted above, students go online to request that a particular class be recorded. If permission is granted the student is notified and given authority to access a particular recording.

Similarly every member of the faculty will be asked to fill out a recording preference form online each semester.  The online faculty preference form will contain these options:

1. All the class meetings of your course(s) will be recorded, but the Law Center will only approve the release of a recording(s) to enrolled students meeting one of the limited circumstances set forth in the Recording Policy for Students (e.g., serious medical situation, religious observance or family emergency).  

2. The Law Center will only record class meetings of your course(s) in response to a student request which the Law Center has determined meets one of the limited circumstances set forth in the Recording Policy for Students.

3. All the class meetings of your course(s) will be recorded and your students will have access without needing to seek approval from the Law Center.

4. No class recordings will be made, except for those class meetings that conflict with a religious observance.

5. NO class recordings will be made for any reason. No recordings will be made for classes that conflict with a religious observance or for any of the other reasons for which students may request access under this policy.

3. Recording at Request of or With the Permission of a Member of the Faculty: Nothing in this policy bars a member of the faculty from authorizing any of her or his classes to be recorded by either students or the Law Center, provided to students in streaming audio format, downloaded or distributed in accordance with paragraph 5 of the student policy described above.

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(1.) Notwithstanding the Standards for Faculty set forth in the next section, the Law Center will audio-record even without faculty permission, with prior notice to the faculty member, where audio-recording is required by law as a reasonable accommodation for those with disabilities. Due to concerns about client confidentiality and attorney-client privilege, the recording of clinical classes will be handled slightly differently.  Clinic classes will be recorded through the use of either video tape or MP3 technology in the classroom, rather than through a centralized computer recording system.  Clinical faculty will handle the distribution of any recordings to students and will supervise the storage and “shredding” of any recordings containing privileged information.

(2.)  Throughout this policy, “downloading” means “receiving and saving” the recording instead of receiving the recording via audio format for the purposes of listening.

(3.)  Notwithstanding the Standards for Faculty set forth in this section, the Law Center will audio-record even without faculty permission, with prior notice to the faculty member, where audio-recording is required by law as a reasonable accommodation for those with disabilities. As noted above, due to concerns about client confidentiality and attorney-client privilege, the recording of clinical classes will be handled slightly differently.  Clinic classes will be recorded through the use of either video tape or MP3 technology in the classroom, rather than through a centralized computer recording system.  Clinical faculty will handle the distribution of any recordings to students and will supervise the storage and “shredding” of any recordings containing privileged information.

 

Revised May 8, 2008 (AG)