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Many students may be confused about who owns the rights to artwork that they have created at SCAD. Five different students may have five different conceptions of what the policy means.

Because of the confusion, the administration is considering more “clear-cut wording for ownership of student work,” said Dean of Communications, Bruce Chong. Any revisions to the policy will be reviewed by SCAD’s executive legal counsel, Ernie Lee, but no changes will be made until the next catalog comes out. The catalog is a “promise to the students” regarding college policies, courses, and programs. Chong said if the policy is rewritten it will “be more explicit that students own their own work.”

Fourth year sequential art student Ronald Chan said, “I don’t have any problems with the wording of the policy. [It’s] quite clear, as well as easy to find.”

However, Chong said that he has fielded several student inquiries. Students have mistakenly believed that SCAD owns their art.

Executive Vice President of SCAD, John Burger said, “SCAD has no intention of owning student work. We want them to own their own work.”

Some misunderstanding may stem from a policy that used to be on SCAD’s website, but was not printed. The site “became large and had things that didn’t reflect current policy,” said Chong.

Chong explained another reason for the confusion about who owns student work could be because of other colleges’ policies. “There are a lot of different policies on a lot of different campuses on what’s considered student work.”

Research universities in particular have drastically different policies than SCAD. At most, if not all, research universities, the college retains the rights to all work created by students. If a chemistry student, for example, developed a new medicine, the college would be the one to sell the formula to a pharmaceutical company.

“For several years, there was an understanding among colleges that that’s the way it was,” Chong said. “Research universities are a different ball game.”

Burger said that SCAD’s current policy is “similar to other art colleges’.”

Typically, if the work would not have been possible without funds and guidance provided by the college, it belongs to the college. For example, SCAD owns a boat designed by students and faculty from the industrial design department. “Even though many faculty and students put time into it, the college put in a lot of resources to make it come to fruition,” said Chong.

Another reason why SCAD students own their own work is because of the volume of work they create. “There is not a warehouse in Savannah big enough to hold all of that,” Chong said. The photographs of student work at the communications department alone take up 10-12 filing cabinets.

Burger said the college has “no intention to appropriate student work.” The college does need to use it for promotional purposes though.

“SCAD reserves the right to use student work in promotions and catalogs-otherwise how would we represent the college?” Chong said.

SCAD tries to be cautious when including text with an image. “The tagline should reflect well on the student and the artwork,” said Chong. Often, the college will stick with an official slogan rather than risk making a student look bad.

Some students believe that SCAD should pay students whose work they use. “We spend hours upon hours working on projects,” said Michelle Zuck, fourth year sequential art.

Chong said that usually students are not compensated for use of their work. “It depends on how it’s distributed and whether or not the students own all rights to the work . . . Some work is based on logos or images owned by a corporation. [That type] could never be printed except as examples of student work.”

However, when the college distributed 80,000 DVDs that included an entire two minute animation, Chong said, “we came to an agreement so [the student] had some level of compensation because of the wide level of distribution.”

Chan said, “I don’t really see any problem with student work being used to promote the college without compensation or permission, but I think the artist should at least be notified.”

Whenever possible, Chong said SCAD will inform students about use of their work. For example, if a piece were to be used for an ad, the communications department would contact either the respective academic department or alumni services to make the student aware.

Chan said, “while the college isn’t obligated to do so, it would be nice if they went through that little bit of extra effort and sent emails out to the students. It’s an issue of courtesy, not of policy.”

Zuck questioned students’ ability to use published works. “Can we use it for our own personal use or will that be copyright infringement?”

Chong said “that is not an issue if the student tries to sell the work. [It’s] the same situation an artist would face if photos of their exhibition were published anywhere.”