Cell phones in class: teachers say regulations necessary
Many agree, answering phones in class has to go
By Randy J. Klodz
Staff Writer

Stacie Freudenberg/Chronicle

“Can you hear me now? Good.”

These are the words of the black framed-wearing Verizon pitchman. They could just as easily be words spoken by a cell-phone-wielding Columbia student while class is in session.

In the age of technology, cell phones have caught on with the most unlikely demographic: broke college students. Even students who don’t have enough money to purchase all of their required textbooks own cell phones.

The problem is not that every Columbia student comes equipped with a standard cell-phone feature, it’s that the same cell-phone rules—or lack thereof—that apply on the street seem to make it into the classroom.

And, a consensus has been reached: Cell phones may be a convenience, but both professors and fellow students consider them an annoyance in the classroom.

Journalism instructor Deborah Rogus said students should treat class time as a real-life office in which there’s a designated meeting time and leader.

“If you were in the middle of a meeting and your phone rang, you would not answer it. You shouldn’t even have it on,” Rogus said.

Though Rogus currently does not have a portion of her syllabus dedicated to cell phone use, she said she is certain to address the issue on the first day of class by asking students to either “turn it off, or put it on vibrate.”

Though students often use cell phones as a means of advancing their social lives, there are also valid reasons for owning a portable phone. Journalism major Kristin Gagnon, 20, said she purchased her phone when she moved from Wisconsin to Chicago.

“I was living in the dorms when I first came down and the school had recommended that we bring cell phones,” Gagnon said. “We could only hook up one phone line to our rooms and they said it would get hard to split phone bills.”

Although she brings her phone to class and makes sure to turn her phone’s ringer off, she said she had an instance where it was necessary for her to have her phone turned on while in class.

“One time I was expecting a really important call about an internship, so I turned my phone on vibrate and put it in my pocket,” Gagnon said. “When the call came, I excused myself from the room and took the call in the hallway. That way, I didn’t disrupt anybody else in the classroom.”

It all comes down to disruption. A phone rings in a quiet room while a professor is lecturing, or even in an extreme case—while an exam is being conducted, and the ring tone (even if it is a catchy tune like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) can make professors and students lose focus.

According to Gagnon, a female student in her Media Ethics and Law class received a phone call and answered it during the midterm exam.

“She actually took the call in the classroom during the midterm. Other people in the classroom began to make disgusted noises to show her their frustration,” Gagnon said. “I almost couldn’t believe it. After establishing who was calling and why, she went outside the door—where we could still hear her talking—and finished a five-minute conversation before returning to class.”

Rogus said she is not aware of a mandatory policy regarding cell phone use and hasn’t been required to include a cell phone policy in her syllabi, but she showed concern for the necessity for one to be established.

“It probably does need to be addressed, and there probably does have to be some sort of school or department policy,” Rogus said.