3.2.14  

The institution’s policies are clear concerning ownership of materials, compensation, copyright issues, and the use of revenue derived from the creation and production of all intellectual property.  This applies to students, faculty, and staff.

RATIONALE FOR COMPLIANCE JUDGMENT

Nashville State Technical Community College (NSCC) has policies regarding intellectual property for both employees and students of the College.  Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) policy on Intellectual Property [1], which applies to all Colleges in the system, defines conditions under which intellectual property is the property of the institution.  The policy applies to all employees and to students.  Basically, if a work is developed within the scope of a project sponsored by the institution or includes significant use of the institutions facilities, then it belongs to NSCC.  The contract used for faculty developing online courses makes this clear [2].  

Scholarly works are treated differently by TBR policy.  Although disclosure is required for such works, the institution does not assert ownership.  The TBR policy provides a process for appropriate disclosure [1].

Individuals are referred to the TBR policy on Intellectual Property at the end of the Academic Affairs section the Faculty and Staff Handbook [3] and the 2006-2007 Student Handbook [4].

The college also has a policy on the Use of Copyrighted Materials [5], which is available in public folders, and a powerpoint presentation on Fair Use [6] that is available in public folders.  Materials on plagiarism and other forms of Academic Dishonesty are included in the Code of Conduct of the 2006-2007 Student Handbook [7], while information to help students understand rules about copyright infringement and the appropriate citation of copyrighted materials for students is available under “Research Help for Students” at the Library website [8].