This story, which I found through BoingBoing, got me thinking about how market forces can drive change in policy amongst academic institutions, much as they do with private corporations.
Colleges and universities exist in a very competitive market. Almost any institution, especially at the undergraduate level, is only one of a number of entirely reasonable and desirable choices for most students. Decisions about which school to attend are made largely on the basis of cost (including aid packages), prestige, and culture.
If the administration of a school is perceived by students as siding with corporate interests over its own student body, that takes a toll on both the second and third items above. Given time, that will inevitably put a downward pressure on the value students place on education at said institution, which will force more aid and recruitment dollars to be spent to capture the same number of students.
Will those costs eventually outweigh the savings from potential litigation, lobbying, and education of students provided by simply “toeing the party line” and being transparent to the RIAA’s pseudo-legal attacks? Only time will tell.
I for one think that the cost in prestige to school that fail to defend their students to the best of their ability will be larger and much more persistent that the current insanity that is the RIAA/MPAA witch hunt, but IANAL.
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