Ringing cell phones irk professors
Cell phones can be a very practical, time-saving and sometimes a life-saving device, but to some Utah State University professors and students, they are like the all-too-familiar class clown, merely a nuisance.
Some professors have policies on cell phone usage in class and others haven’t established a policy yet.
Felix Tweraser, assistant professor of German, said he discourages cell phone disruptions in class, but doesn’t have an official policy regarding phones.
He said he thought a university-wide policy on cell phone classes would be a good idea.
Grant Nielsen, a junior majoring in civil engineering, said his phone is never completely off, but has the sound turned off. He said he doesn’t like when a ringing phone interrupts a class.
“I hate that,” he said. “That bugs me.”
Some students like Nielsen view ringing phones as simple annoyances.
Others, like Tori Millerberg, a junior studying elementary education, say they pity students who get embarrassed by having a ringing phone.
“I kind of feel bad for them, and I’m glad it’s not me,” Millerberg said.
Bart Liechty, a senior majoring in public relations, said there is “no problem with taking your cell phone to class, but there’s always some moron who forgets to put it on silent.”
For political science professor Roberta Herzberg, cell phone usage in classes “has not been a big problem in lectures.”
On test days, however, Herzberg said her policy changes.
“If your phone goes off, you flunk the exam,” she said.
Herzberg said she informed her classes of this policy after she suspected students were text-messaging answers to each other during an exam.
Assistant professor of journalism Cathy Bullock said she has a policy of no disruptive behavior and said she asks people on the first day of class to keep phones off.
Bullock said she hasn’t had any really bad problems.
Until USU establishes a policy for cell phone disruption in classes, each teacher is left to use his own discretion on ways to keep their class uninterrupted by cell phones.
-scottsj@cc.usu.edu