MOVIES - Feb. 4, 1992

Professor Spike: The teacher may be just a filmmaker and the class only meets weekly, but don’t expect it to be a snap. That’s the word from Spike Lee, who is teaching a course about black cinema at Harvard this semester. “They’re going to have to work,” Lee said after his first class. “They’re going to have to write papers, see films. No backsliding, no skating.” Lee has barred the media from sitting in on his lectures. “My class is a dictatorship,” he said, threatening to penalize students who talk to reporters about his methods. Lee said his goal is twofold: “To impart knowledge I can give them, having made six films in seven years, and to learn.” And why did he choose to teach at Harvard? Simple, says the New York University-educated filmmaker: “It’s the first time anyone asked.”