Ryan Stevens, a Sacramento State alumnus and founder of note-sharing website NoteUtopia, said he is “disappointed” about the “threatening tone” of the mass e-mail sent to 30,000 students on Wednesday.

The e-mail was sent by Lori Varlotta, vice president for student affairs, and warned students against using NoteUtopia’s “sell class notes” feature.

“California Education Code section 66450 prohibits any business or person from selling or otherwise distributing or publishing class notes for a commercial purpose,” Varlotta said in her email. “This means that any CSU student selling class notes, including on the NoteUtopia website, is subject to discipline, up through and including expulsion from the University.”

Stevens said Varlotta’s e-mail gave students the impression that NoteUtopia is illegal.

“This move by the university is one that is intimidating, confusing to students, and one-sided,” Stevens said. “It mischaracterizes our website. We do not buy and sell notes from students. Students buy and sell notes from each other and we simply act as a facilitator.”

Varlotta was not available for comment; however, Director of News Services Kimberly Nava said the email sent to students was to make them aware that selling notes, “whether on NoteUtopia or any similar website,” was in violation of the California education and student conduct code.

“The California State University [Sacramento] wanted to make students aware of these codes and the possible implications of selling class notes. [Therefore,] CSU students are expected to abide by the California education codes and student conduct codes,” Nava said.

At this time, Nava said there are no plans to send any additional e-mails to students about NoteUtopia.

Stevens said the prohibited buying and selling of notes bring up a students “rights” issue because the student’s own notes do not legally belong to them but rather to their professors.

“The state claims the power to determine how a student can use their own handwritten notes. This statute threatens basic constitutional rights,” Stevens said.

Stevens, who said NoteUtopia will not be shutting down, has contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for online rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union office in San Francisco, in the hopes that the organizations will look further into this issue.

“We can look at what happened one of two ways &- the first being 30,000 students received an e-mail warning them not to use our website, laced with scary words like expulsion &- or that 30,000 students now know our name,” Stevens said. “All we want is our side of the story to be heard. That is all we are asking.”

Laila Barakat can be reached at [email protected]