The University of Missouri may soon require students to obtain written permission from their professors and classmates before making audio or video recordings of classroom lectures.
The proposed policy is a response to a video of a labor studies lecture by a University of Missouri-Kansas City professor that went viral in April. Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website obtained a leaked copy and edited hours of classroom lectures to suggest the professor advocated union violence.
Administrators with the four-campus Missouri system say the new policy will protect student privacy while spelling out possible punishments for those who distribute such recordings without permission.
But some professors say the policy contradicts the public university's goal to promote shared knowledge while it also advocates for more technology in the classroom.