AIBU to sneak into uni lectures even though i'm not a student

[Lecture]

I am in fact a SAHM . We live in a university town and every Wednesday my DM has the baby for the morning so I get a break. About a month ago I ordered a book from waterstones and picked it up from the university branch. I'd never been on the campus before and couldn't believe there was no security or need to show any student ID. After i'd been to Waterstones I got a cup of coffee at one of the cafes and had a wander round the grounds.

Its lovely there, lots of (cheap) restaurants and cafeterias and you don't need to show ID to use them

The next week I went there for lunch and looked around the library for a few hours.

Today I was wandering around and sat on the bench outside the lecture hall. There were hundreds of students milling around and the lecture schedule on a big flat screen TV on the outside wall. Anyway i watched them going in to each room and there were loads of spaces in the halls (big double doors open so i could see in). Then I was looking at the schedule and there were lots of interesting sounding lectures on. It suddenly occurred to me that i could probably just go in and sit in on one without being noticed by anyone. There were quite a few mature students so I don't think i'd stick out too much.

Now i'm home I think I might be being a bit mental (and possibly a bit post natal) to consider essentially stealing lectures I haven't paid for. I haven't told DH or DM i've been hanging around the uni

AIBU (or do you think I could get away with it)

BTW, can't believe the username Lecture wasn't taken!

Is this Sussex Uni? That was my undergraduate Uni and sounds familiar to what you describe. I used to also work on-site in the summer holidays (helping with the catering for the Open University students who used to come to do summer schools). However it was all split shifts. Me and some other students discovered we could get into one particular lecture hall in-between shifts and watch films in the lecture theatre like we were in a cinema to pass the time.

There are no student grants anymore! Everybody pays (assuming you're in England). The genuine students will be paying at least £9K per year (the international students pay more).
It's probably fraud or something to go in without paying.
Having said that, if you're discovered, you'll probably just be thrown out.
I think it's a lot less dodgy for a student at a uni to go to lectures in subjects they're not studying. I don't think the university would care much about that.

I'm very tempted to do this myself. I will have a wander next week and see what's on in the very big lecture theatre.

Typo of the day:

All staff lick their rooms

Thank you Ringsender 2

YABU, mostly harmless I'd say but a bit unreasonable. Have you thought about doing some of the free online courses?

YANBU if you can get away with it.

You might also enjoy something like Cafe Scientifique although those are in the evening so less convenient. But you'd be able to talk to actual, real people! Always a bonus for an SAHM.

I work at a university. The only places you need id to access are the libraries.

I can just about accept the differences between boarding a train without paying the fare and sitting in a lecture.

However, I can imagine the reaction from the OU if I asked to be added to their e-mail list for a particular course.

The course will run regardless of my name being on that list.

(TBH I have no experience of OU courses, apart from finding the difference in cost being an overseas student would mean)

I am not being snipey, just pondering.

(In the OP's position, I would go for it!)

Do it. You're unlikely to be caught and so what if you are? What are they really going to do?

YANBU. I would definitely do this if the opportunity arose, there are so many interesting things to learn!

DPjust pointed out that OU lectures used to be available on BBC2 at ridiculous hours in B&W by men with strange beards.

(Many posters will probably not remember this)

YANBU - when I was a student, I often sat in on lectures for subjects that I wasn't studying (usually with friends who were studying those subjects). I wouldn't think it was unethical. There's much more to getting a degree than sitting in a lecture hall.

There's a huge difference between someone sitting in on a lecture and someone involving themselves on other aspects of a degree. An extra bum on a seat makes absolutely no difference to me. If that person started emailing me and asking bloody obviousquestions, it would be a step too far.

Actually, my uni is at the point of abolishing face to face lectures. They're all going to be recorded and put on the VLE (virtual learning environment).

Not only that: when the OU began there were no VCRs so you watched them at those ridiculous hours. Your DP and I are both old farts!

I am outraged that there might be staff out there that don't lick their rooms...

OP I would be happy to have anyone who was interested in my lectures, the only exception being if they were actually full...which they aren't. because the lecture halls have to fit the whole class and there is always several people off sick at any given lecture.

Students are paying fees but it isn't for lectures...it is for supervision, tutorials, labs (most of it goes on labs) and marking.

Ha Ha Andrew! I was there, in the days before 24 hr telly, the OU was the only thing n the box at times. So you were forced to watch it if you could not turn off the telly and find something more interesting to do (does that ring a bell?)

Sorry, derailing the thread

don'trun ohhh who is doing that? Sounds cool!

PutDownThatLaptop "No, don't do it, YABU. (I am a University lecturer.)"

Would you explain why you feel that way, please? IIRC all the other lecturers on this thread said they'd be happy for the OP to attend their lectures.

Can someone use this to write a book please? I want the OP to fall in love with the dashing lecturer. She will go through much soul searching and existential crises as her horizons are broadened by Social Anthropolgy 401. And then, ultimately, will return to the forgiving arms of her DH. It will end with them walking with the kids across the common as the sun falls on her laughing face. totally outs the shoddy quality of books I read

It really isn't fraud or unethical.

Most lecturers would be very happy to have someone who is actually interested to come in and listen.

Tbh, I think even senior management would see it as a form of marketing where I work. Someone who is interested enough to attend lectures in their spare time is exactly the sort of person who might then decide they want to get the actual degree. The idea would be that they'd enjoy the lectures and then want to do everything else so they can learn as much as possible.

There are loads of free research seminars and events on all over the place. In my department we would very much welcome non-academics to attend and contribute to the discussions.

The risk you run at a department seminar though is of having to witness the horrors of academic politics in action. The questions are often just power plays and about positioning amongst colleagues rather than any desire to know anything about what the poor presenter has been talking about. Some of them are quite something to behold.

And there are some fantastic free on-line courses offered by some of the best uni's in the world. The range of courses is staggering.

www.coursera.org/

I have followed a few of them and found them to be brilliant, you decide yourself how engaged you want to be. You can opt to participate in the on-line assessment, or just sit in on the lectures at your leisure.

Good idea :) Although you might be better off looking at their "open lecture" schedule where they are aimed at members of the public rather than as part of the courses. Just because they wont assume prior knowledge and be "whole" rather than a snippet of a course.

Another idea is online courses - i did a course by coursera a few years back, i didn't finish it as i didn't have time but it was interesting. You do need a bit of background knowledge but there are so many courses on offer, and you are basically doing what you are doing but in the comfort of your own home. Some offer certificates which actually give a bit of meaning to the learning, althoguh they don't count as qualifications.

I might sign up for something...

Go for it.

I learnt everything I know a lot about history of art, philosphy and sociology by attending lectures at unis I wasn't enrolled at with friends.

I don't recommend geology though. So boring

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