Q. As a student what are my copyright rights?

Students own the copyright to the works they produce, as defined by United States Copyright Law. This means that no one can use a student-created work without the permission of the student author, except as allowed for under fair-use exceptions to copyright restrictions.

Student copyrights are further defined by Appendix A of the 2012 Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement [POL-U4520.03 Patent and Copyright Policy]:

Except in the case of works written or produced for hire, and subject to any restrictions imposed by outside sponsoring or funding organizations, a student of the university who independently conceives of and produces any work shall have exclusive rights thereto, including the ownership of copyright therein. Student work produced as a result of a faculty member’s project is the property of the faculty member. If original student work results from a faculty member’s larger project, that portion of the project is the property of the student. Any dispute between the student and the faculty member regarding allocation of rights shall be adjudicated by the [Patent and Copyright Committee].