BruinCast, which provides video and audio recordings of some lectures, no longer allows students who are not enrolled in a class to access the recordings.
This fall, BruinCast officials stopped allowing the public to view UCLA lectures because not all videos can offer closed captioning. Offering such information to the public without accommodations for people who have disabilities could violate laws, said Robert Gibson, interim co-director of the Office of Instructional Development, which oversees BruinCast’s services.
Before fall, professors individually decided whether a public audience could view their recorded lectures.
Students with disabilities who are enrolled in a class that is recorded on BruinCast can ask for specific accommodations from the Office for Students with Disabilities, such as closed captioning.
Gibson added they removed the videos from public access because sharing them would be unfair to members of the public with disabilities who would not have access to those accommodations.
In February, individuals and organizations advocating for the deaf sued Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for not providing closed captioning for the recordings they made public. The lawsuit alleged edX, the universities’ BruinCast equivalent, failed to provide accommodations and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination in education and employment. The federal government reached an agreement with edX in April, requiring edX provide captioning for deaf people and navigation for blind people, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Gibson said BruinCast suspended the feature so it could avoid legal issues and review different ways to accommodate people with disabilities. It will be reinstated when BruinCast can make the recordings accessible for everyone.
Gibson added the review could take a quarter, but could not provide a date by which the new lectures will be available to the public. He also said changes in the BruinCast features were already made when he came into office, and is unsure who is responsible for the decision.
Several professors who record lectures through BruinCast believe the changes violate their intellectual property agreements.
Matthew Malkan, a professor in the department of astronomy, said the BruinCast staff did not approach professors about the changes.
“BruinCast made it clear the video content is the intellectual property of the (lecturer),” said Steven Hardinger, a professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department. “(Then they) unilaterally decided to control the distribution of my intellectual property, and that’s a problem.”
Gibson said BruinCast officials will consult the UCLA Office of Legal Affairs to ensure future changes do not violate any laws or policies.
“We have to make sure our actions (to accommodate members of the public who have disabilities) are legally grounded,” Gibson said. “We will be consulting with the UCLA Office of the Campus Counsel to be more familiar with the law, such as the intellectual property rights of lecturers.”
Hardinger added there were 145 students still hoping to enroll in his Chemistry 14C: “Structure of Organic Molecules” class who could not view the lectures on BruinCast because of the new policy.
Phillip Lam, a second-year neuroscience student and one of 145 students waiting to enroll, said he was only able watch Hardinger’s old lectures, which may be different in content.
Contributing reports by Allison Ong, Bruin reporter.