A North Carolina State University professor who had been selling audio recordings of his lectures online was asked to stop on Wednesday after a university dean raised objections.
Since late August, Robert L. Schrag, a professor of communication, had been selling lectures from his classes to students and others through a Web site called Independent Music Online. The lectures, in MP3 format, sold for $2.50 each, with $1.00 going to Mr. Schrag and $1.50 going to the music Web site.
But Mr. Schrag said he had asked the operator of the site to take down his lectures after Toby L. Parcel, dean of the university’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, told him that the practice bothered her. Mr. Schrag said he agreed to halt the sales—at least temporarily—while Ms. Parcel investigated whether the university would allow professors to sell their lectures. Mr. Schrag said the head of the department of communication, Craig Allen Smith, had previously given him the go-ahead to market the recordings. See The Chronicle’s full coverage (free link).
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