Ringing and buzzing cell phones disrupts class

By Travis Ball
The Collegian

Picture yourself in class, working diligently on your final exam. After a night of studying, you are prepared.  Suddenly, from the seat next to you, the beginning of “the Macerena” interrupts your deep concentration.

You’re frustrated, but more importantly, the professor in the front of the classroom is fuming.

Like other professors at Fresno State, theatre arts Professor Edward EmanuEl said he believes cell phones are bad for the classroom environment, and like other professors at Fresno State he has a cell phone policy in his syllabus.

“By having the cell phone on, you are saying you are available to talk and available to receive calls,” EmanuEl said. Unless the student has a potential emergency, like waiting for the hospital to call, the cell phone should be off, EmanuEl said.

Thomas-Whit Ellis, also a theatre arts professor, said most professors have a problem with cell phones ringing during class. If a cell phone rings during Ellis’ class, the entire class takes the fall. His policy is to dismiss the class for the day and every student loses points.

“When everyone realizes that they share in the pain of one bad mistake, they are a lot more studious about turning the cell phones off,” Ellis said.

Some students may say his policy is harsh, but Ellis said he is not on a crusade against cell phones. “I just think there are certain places they should not be taken into,” Ellis said.

Not all professors at Fresno State are having problems with cell phones ringing during class.

“I haven’t really talked to a lot of professors about it, so I don’t know for sure,” said sociology professor Jay O’Brien. The idea that the faculty hasn’t been talking about it much may suggest it is not on the front of their minds, he said.

The Syllabus Solution

English professor Cecile Lopez said cell phones ringing during class has not been much of a problem for her this semester.

“It’s less of a problem now that I have put it on my syllabus, and I remind students at the beginning of class for the first week or so,” Lopez said. Despite her lack of problems, Lopez does think cell phones are a problem for most professors.

Ellis said cell phone activity has been steadily growing over the last eight years. He said when there were only a few cell phones in his class, he was more tolerant of it. Having a cell phone ring during class two or three times a semester is not a big deal, Ellis said, but that ratio has quadrupled or more since they have become more popular.

“A cell phone could conceivably go off once a week or every session,” he said.

Ellis said his policy has worked, and he said students have the right to go to a classroom environment that is free of distraction.

“We can’t control a power failure or something like that,” Ellis said, “but we can certainly control somebody’s cell phone going off.”

Ellis said this helps other students as well. “You’re paying $1,500 a semester to get a good GPA to learn something to get a good job. You didn’t pay for your class to be disrupted by somebody’s cell phone. You didn’t pay for that. That’s a lot of money,” Ellis said.

The story behind a ring

Brad Hamm, a math major, said students forget to turn off their phones because they turn it on in between classes. “It’s easy to forget,” Hamm said, “especially when you have like five classes in a row.”

O’Brien said forgetfulness does account for some of the cell phones ringing during class. He said sometimes a student may be late for class and is rushing, so they forget to turn the phone off. But students are getting used to a routine of turning them off, he said.

Some professors have problems with cell phones for more reasons than just the ringing. Sometimes the problem is just a matter of students playing with their phones during class.
This is the problem EmanuEl said he faces most often.

“It’s not that they go off a lot,” he said, “but students take them out a lot.” EmanuEl said students are just curious who called, but when they take the phone out during a film the lights of the phone can be distracting.

The use of cell phones in class has created other problems for EmanuEl. “Certain cell phones will affect the electronic equipment I am dealing with,” he said, “then I’m stuck.”

Although she has not had much of a problem with cell phones ringing during her classes, Lopez said it is not hard to get in the habit of turning the phone off. “There’s no reason for it to go on during class time,” she said. “Maybe with some individuals they assume that calls are important even during class time. Of course, they are not so important that they should be taking calls during class time.”

John Parraz, a senior criminology major, said cell phones ringing during class is not a huge issue on campus. He said most his classes in recent years have been upper division, so students have been going to school a few years and understand different policies. Parraz said the problem he faces is students answering phones in class and text messaging.

EmanuEl said he has had problems with both. He said he has had a student answer their phone in the middle of class just to tell the caller they couldn’t talk. And he has caught students cheating on his exams by way of text messaging.

“Students deserve more consistency, and that should come down from the administration,” Ellis said.

“There should be a straight blanket policy, ‘no cell phones, you’ll be subject to suspension,’ or something like that,” he said. “That would stop it.”

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