starting a forum, advice appreciated

[nemik]

Illinois

legal advice for schools

so i'm thinking of creating a forum for my university so students can discuss classes and such. it would be cool and fun i think and not take much time.

i want to bring people in there with something very enticing. so i want to scan my and my friends' homeworks, exams, labs, projects, etc and post them all on there for free so people can access them when they register; i would never charge for it.

so now i'm wondering about the legal challanges (if any) this could present. since i'm a student i wouldn't want my school to expell me over this. should i register a private domain? or forget the past exams/etc idea altogether and just stick to the forum?

thanks guys!

 

[Law_Student]

Well, that depends:

Would you be posting exams that have not been taken yet and just the homework questions/assignment or the answers as well? If I would be you, I would simply get in touch with someone of high authority from your school and discuss this issue with them. There are however, other ways to attract the students to come to your web-site:

1. Tutoring links
2. Useful homework web-sites
3. Links to dictionaries
4. Livechat function (Such as IRC - Internet Relay Chat)
5. Social events calendar
6. Important school announcements

 

[nemik]

first of all, thank you for your reply and advice on this issue!

no, i would under no circumstances offer exams which have not been handed out yet (nor do i have the means to do so).
I would however put exams which are in my posession and allow others to put their also (only ones which have already been handed out). sometimes they may have solutions, most often not because they will have been the exams of students who have taken them.

same for homework and labs; i wouldn't be posting any official solution manuals or such (especially ones belonging to any book publishers); just assignments, labs, projects, which students have already done.

and thank you very much for those other ideas and suggestions as well!