Registration required for for-profit website owned by teacher. Conflict of Interest?

[EngineStudent]

San Luis Obispo, California

At Cuesta College every student taking an Engineering course must sign up, and pay a fee, at a for-profit website which, as the syllabus states, "will be managing the course". The website provides informational video lectures which the professor has recorded through the years and uses for every course. It also hosts forums and distributes course information. This for-profit website is owned by the said professor. Therefore, the professor is directly profiting from every student because they are required to use this website service. Recently a new website has cropped up, also owned by the professor and is required for the course.
The language on one web site about its referral system (presumably for other teachers):

"Earn money for every new customer you bring to YourOtherTeacher.com, Inc. You'll get up to 40% for each new sign-up. With our tiered compensation structure, the more customers you refer, the more money you'll earn."

(emphasis added)

The websites themselves seem to only be used by the students of this teacher.

To us this seems like a conflict of interest. Is it? Is it legal?

Relevant links:
http://academic.cuesta.edu/jjones/Engr50/ENGR-250-welcome-summer11.pdf
Online Lessons Using Streaming Video
...Class4meWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[tranquility]

As long as you know it going in, I don't really see a problem. They can force you to use textbooks written by them, I don't see how this is different. You can make a stink about it politically through the ASB and student newspaper. It will certainly force the college and teacher to make sure everything is all legal like.

 

[Humusluvr]

San Luis Obispo, California

At Cuesta College every student taking an Engineering course must sign up, and pay a fee, at a for-profit website which, as the syllabus states, "will be managing the course". The website provides informational video lectures which the professor has recorded through the years and uses for every course. It also hosts forums and distributes course information. This for-profit website is owned by the said professor. Therefore, the professor is directly profiting from every student because they are required to use this website service. Recently a new website has cropped up, also owned by the professor and is required for the course.
The language on one web site about its referral system (presumably for other teachers):

"Earn money for every new customer you bring to YourOtherTeacher.com, Inc. You'll get up to 40% for each new sign-up. With our tiered compensation structure, the more customers you refer, the more money you'll earn."

(emphasis added)

The websites themselves seem to only be used by the students of this teacher.

To us this seems like a conflict of interest. Is it? Is it legal?

Relevant links:
http://academic.cuesta.edu/jjones/Engr50/ENGR-250-welcome-summer11.pdf
Online Lessons Using Streaming Video
...Class4meWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

That is ABSOLUTELY a direct conflict of interest, which said professor has likely signed a waiver NOT to do. At the University I work at, professors CANNOT profit from their own work. They may require the students that they teach to buy a book that they wrote, but they cannot profit from their own students royalties. For example, the person who had my job before me was fired for writing a lab manual, charging $85 for a $10 manual, and then requiring the students buy it. He kept every cent, and was fired and sued for breach of contract.

I would bring it up to the dean, and file a grievance or whatever Cuesta's procedure is for complaints. Ask for your money back. I'm sure Cuesta has a learning platform like Blackboard or WebCT that the professors can use to post videos or lessons - ask that the professor use that. This is actually pretty serious in the world of academia, and professors can be fired for this.