Universities Gone Wild

In the past week, I've heard from contacts at both Victoria University in Wellington (where I did my MA in Creative Writing) and the University of Iowa (where I completed my MFA) that the universities want to publish creative theses online. In fact, in the case of Iowa, students won't be able to graduate without agreeing to this.

Like every other writer I've heard from about this issue, I'm opposed to this - and opposed to the high-handed manner in which the universities are acting.

Of course, I know that my MA thesis - the draft manuscript for my first novel, Queen of Beauty - is already available to the public in the Victoria University library. Similarly, my thesis for Iowa - a collection of short stories, which forms the basis of the book I'm currently working on for publication by Penguin - is available in the University of Iowa library. Someone could, in theory, photocopy either MS, but it would be cheaper for them to buy an actual copy of the book in question.

Electronic circulation is quite a different matter. If anyone in the world is able to access and download the MS to a computer, then they're essentially able to get either of these books free of charge. While neither thesis is a final draft, there's not a vast difference between draft and published product. There would be little reason for anyone to buy an actual copy of the book if the same content was available online.

Student writers will have to be much more circumspect. When Penguin agreed to publish my first book, I had the chance to work through it page-by-page with an editor, preparing it for publication. If I'd been conscious that the thesis with all its rough edges, meanderings, failed scenes, extra characters, ugly lines, etc, would be published online, I'm sure I would NOT have handed in so much work. I'd still be agonizing over every line! Student writers will have to waste time obsessing over legal issues - eg use of song lyrics, the names of places and characters, inadvertent plagiarism, the potential for defamation suits - rather than focusing on writing their MSS. Are these universities willing to accept the responsibilities and liabilities of a publisher?

I'm sure, also, that I would have submitted quite a different creative thesis at both places. If I had to sign up now for online publication by the university, would I think twice about including the complete novel in my MA thesis for Victoria? Absolutely. Would I submit the minimum number of pages for my MFA thesis for Iowa and possibly include old/already published rather than new work? Absolutely. This way, I would know that the WHOLE book was not available to the public until I sold it to a publisher - and readers could buy it in a book store.

By the way, the Graduate College at Iowa is refusing to bend on this, and within two weeks current MFA students will have to sign their "First Deposit" form or be prevented from graduating.

As Kembrew McLeod explains, this "First Deposit" form "contains brand new language that can be construed as a license that hands over student thesis publishing rights to the University of Iowa -- unless an embargo form is signed, and that embargo only lasts two years ... The language of this new Graduate College form would allow for MFA theses deposited this year to eventually be posted on Google Print, which is a reminder that we need good university policies regarding copyright protections and exceptions. I highly recommend UVA Prof. Siva Vaidhyanathan's blog The Googlization of Everything, for more info about the broader implications of the Google Print project."

If I was arriving at Victoria or Iowa now, and was forced to sign such an agreement, I would hand in a completely different creative thesis, just to protect my own future interests. The idea that a university would impose this kind of restriction on our creative freedom - and creative property - is astounding.

Comments

[Brando]

Only people who don't publish creative work could have come up with that policy.

[Rachael King]

Wow. I haven't heard from Victoria about this. You can say no can't you? I would hate for my first, unpublished, novel to be available to just anyone in the world. And I will tell them so if they come asking.