The three-day confiscation of first-year student Karre Lawson’s cell phone sparked serious discussion about what lengths faculty members may go to in the pursuit of enforcing their classroom rules.
Lawson was sitting in the PLC for an evening Biology colloquium a class of about 135 students Tuesday Oct. 26.
She said that she was browsing pictures online that were relevant to the material being presented in class that day by other students.
But one of her friends found one of the pictures to be funny causing Biology professor Dr. Thomas Vandergon to interrupt the PowerPoint presentation immediately.
“He runs over to us Lawson recalled. He screamed ‘That’s mine now! Give it to me!'”
The phone was returned to her Friday Oct. 29.
Lawson claims she waited patiently until class was finished and attempted to apologize to the professor.
Vandergon refused to imeediately return the cell phone.
“‘Yeah you are sorry'” Lawson recalled Vandergon saying. “‘Your phone is mine now. You have to buy a new one.'”
Lawson left the PLC Tuesday night phoneless and spent the next few days trying to contact those she thought might help return her phone including the Department of Public Safety and Stacy Rothberg associate dean of students for Housing and Community Living.
She went to Vandergon’s office during his office hours Friday morning but the professor did not show up.Rothberg sent a follow-up email later in the morning and Vandergon agreed to meet with Lawson that afternoon to return the phone.
Rothberg declined to comment on the situation.
Lawson’s case further adds to the continuing discussion about what a teacher can and should do with their technology-in-the-classroom policies and how to enforce them.
Teachers are given discretion when it comes to issues such as cell phones and computers and can tailor class policies to their preferences.
While some professors allow and even encourage computer use and do not provide measures against cell phone usage others have banned computers completely from their classes and will seek ramifications for “texters.”
The Western Culture classes are in the first semester of a division-wide ban prohibiting laptop use in all sections of Humanities 111 212 and 313 courses. Chronic student disobedience of the policy led Humanities 111 professor Sonia Sorrell to enact of a 50-point deduction to the final grade for those caught using laptops or other web devices in class. A teaching assistant even stood up in class one day to remind students of the policy and threatened confiscation of devices not put away within “10 seconds.”
The effectiveness of technology in the classroom has been the subject of much debate. Some students learn and focus better when they type their notes the argument goes and certain professors even ask students to research articles online during class for discussion. Conversely the temptations of the Internet from various social media to mind-numbing games can destroy the ability for a professor to teach. The Western Cultures division holds by a study that reported laptop use may detriment a student’s grade by up to 5-7 percent.
Lawson said Vandergon made it clear at the beginning of the course that cell phone use was strictly prohibited but did not anticipate the punishment that would follow.
Peter Wendel a Pepperdine School of Law professor questioned the legality and desirability of confiscating a student’s cell phone.
“Unless the school or the professor’s classroom rules permit such conduct I find it highly unlikely that a professor has a right to confiscate a student’s phone Wendel said. The professor has the right to ask a student who is causing a disruption to leave. But to confiscate a student’s property permanently without prior notice that such a penalty would be imposed in the event of a breach of classroom rules particularly when such a breach can occur accidently appears harsh at a minimum and potentially illegal”.
Wendel also reinforced the social responsibility of the school’s faculty to maintain Pepperdine’s reputation.
“As professors we need to remember that what we do and why we do it is important not only to the students we currently teach but also to the students we hope to have an opportunity to teach. Whether this professor’s behavior is legal may be debatable depending on what the Pepperdine rules and his classroom rules provide but whether such behavior advances the interests of the University is highly questionable in my opinion.”
Vandergon declined to comment issuing a brief statement via email.
“As this is a private issue dealing with classroom behavior of a student” he wrote “I am not at liberty to say.”