On Thursday, Nov. 14th, the Queens College Academic Senate passed an amendment to QC’s classroom recording policy that prohibits photography in a classroom setting unless written consent is provided by the instructor.
The original Queens College Classroom Recording policy was adopted by the Academic Senate on Feb. 8th, 2024. According to the meeting minutes from the Academic Senate’s Feb. 8th 2024 meeting, the original Queens College Classroom Recording Policy states:
“Audio or video recordings of all or parts of classes at Queens College may not be made without permission from the course instructor(s).
“The Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Special Services may provide for the recording of classes on behalf of a student receiving disability accommodations, missing class due to religious beliefs, or experiencing extended absence due to medical or other exigent circumstances.
“The Queens College Classroom Recording Policy applies to both students and visitors. Students and visitors are not authorized to copy, download, or disseminate authorized recordings to others. Students in violation of this policy are subject to disciplinary action, and visitors in violation of this policy are subject to removal from the classroom and/or campus,” the policy says.
The Nov. 14th Queens College Recording Policy amendment passed by senate prohibits photography in addition to video and audio recording in a classroom setting unless explicitly authorized by the instructor in writing.
The amendment was introduced by Larissa Swedell, a QC professor and Anthropology Department Chair, who proposed the amendment on behalf of the Academic Senate’s Policy Board on Administration. The Policy Board on Administration is a standing committee on academics that, according to the academic senate bylaws, has the power “To advise on all major policy decisions, monitor performance, and hear complaints.”
When proposed, the new amendment sparked debate amongst the senators.
During the senate meeting, assistant professor in the Physics department Euclides Almeida raised concerns over the “broadness” of the amended policy and its implications on certain departments at QC.
“[In] physics, we teach a lot of research classes and we teach a lot of lab classes. So as students, they need to take photographs of setups, or progresses, or if you have students that need to take photos of, for example, some of the references that are cited. So I think we see things too broad and may affect negatively some departments,” Almeida said.
On the contrary, Eric Rosano, an associate Accounting professor, said, “You can make your exceptions for your specific classes, but I do think this needs to be in our classes, especially in the current regime of things. I fully support it.”
When asked to provide additional context for the need to revise this policy, Professor Swedell said, “Part of the background here is recent incidents in classrooms. School photographs were taken and used publicly against people. But that said, I would offer to take this back to the Policy Board on Administration, and we can tweak it to address these concerns and make it more clear where exceptions might lie.”
On Oct. 9th, U.S. Congressman, Ritchie Torres, took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize a QC assistant professor’s remarks toward the Israeli and Hamas conflict. Simultaneously, Torres posted the professor’s full name, email address, Zoom contact link, and class schedule online which led to the assistant professor experiencing a series of doxing attacks. Concerns over the state of security and protection against doxing attacks led the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) to issue a letter addressed to Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and President Frank Wu, calling on the two parties to “forcefully condemn the Ritchie Torres doxing tweet, which endangers your employee and your students by publicizing the location of the classroom and the Zoom link for online participants.”
After some debate, a motion was made to move the amendment to a vote. The amendment ultimately passed with thirty three votes in favor, three votes opposed, and one abstention.
