I actually graduated from the U of C! I think this is a great stand to take. I know a lot of Professors had been posting things online as a workaround (which obviously has been the blight of AC) and I always greatly appreciated this as it cut down on textbook fees. The really great professors were using free material to teach in their lecture halls (I don't know what that says about the education I was given but meh, free != crap).
The one thing I don't like about this stand is that by going directly to the source and cutting out the middle man the University is giving tremendous power to it's professors. I think there will be a lot more professor-authors doing the lecturing circuit. Don't get me wrong sometimes it's wonderful to have such a great resource, but from my experience most of the professors who plugged their own works were just self-serving and thought of this "workaround" as a way to make them richer rather than our level of education.
The one thing I don't like about this stand is that by going directly to the source and cutting out the middle man the University is giving tremendous power to it's professors. I think there will be a lot more professor-authors doing the lecturing circuit. Don't get me wrong sometimes it's wonderful to have such a great resource, but from my experience most of the professors who plugged their own works were just self-serving and thought of this "workaround" as a way to make them richer rather than our level of education.