The Harvard Crimson reports..
Numerous students criticized Harvard Law School for its policy on class recordings, which they called “stringent” and “punitive.” Some argued that the Law School has abandoned some of its most vulnerable students in the middle of a pandemic.
Victor O. Ojeah, a Master of Laws student taking online classes from Nigeria, will not set foot on campus in his time at Harvard Law School.
With spotty electricity at home and living six hours ahead of Eastern Time, Ojeah said he hoped to access recordings of his Law School classes to make the most of his already “diluted” time at HLS.
He learned quickly, however, that his Law School peers had already been organizing for months to expand access to class recordings during the pandemic, but had found little success.
Law School administrators have argued that recordings could have a chilling effect on student discourse and undermine the socratic classroom experience. Though the school does allow students to request recordings under certain strict conditions — like a religious holiday, birth of a child, death of an “immediate” family member, or military service — each request must be made individually in advance of each class.
“I don’t want to be that guy who is the poster boy for asking for class recordings,” Ojeah said.
Ojeah said the recording policies have been especially difficult for and demonstrate a lack of understanding of students residing abroad, who are living in varying time zones with different levels of internet accessibility.
“In some countries, there’s a possibility of having constant and steady electricity,” he said. “In others like mine, electricity is really a luxury.”
Noelle G. Graham, co-president of the Law School’s student government, said that though recent power outages in Texas brought the issue to the forefront of student concern, discussions with administors about the issue began last summer.
“This is actually something that’s been a stressor for students, not just this year, but in previous years as well,” Graham said. “It’s something that student government last year was looking at, even before we were in a remote environment.”
Read more at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/2/26/harvard-law-school-recording-policy-criticism/
