Notes are the key to success in any class. For students to get the most out of a class, they must get accurate and complete information. Students who use services like Versity.com and Collegenotes.com aren’t all slackers looking for a convenient excuse to skip class. Many students use online notes to clarify points that may have been confused in class, to supplement lectures (some people learn more just listening to professors than trying to jot down every word they say), or to get the information they missed after not attending class for a legitimate reason. Many non-English speakers have a hard time keeping up in class or communicating with their students. Not even all Americans can keep up with a fast-paced lecture. Getting the most of class can often require Cliffs Notes, study guides, tutoring and, yes, better notes. Why should lectures be a hit-or-miss proposition? Why should anyone fall behind because of a broken wrist or inability to write fast enough? Online notes help many students for more legitimate than illigitimate reasons. Professors’ intellectual property is meant to be shared among their students. If they don’t feel that way, they’re in the wrong profession. Everyone at Iowa State is here to gain and share knowledge, and we should all be sincerely in that goal. Professors should not protest the practice of letting students access notes online. If they are cheesed that a company is making money off their hard work AND sincere in wanting students to get as much out of classe as possible, then the solution is simple: give students your lecture notes. Put them online, hand out hard copies or reserve them in the library. The only way to fight online-note companies is to beat them to the punch. Companies like Versity.com fill a need. Fill that need first, and the problem is solved. Editorial board:Carrie Tett, Greg Jarrett, Katie Goldsmith, Amie Van Overmeer and Andrea Hauser