Should Profs Leave Unruly Classes? (
Inside Higher Ed)
Professors routinely complain about students who spend class time on Facebook or texting their friends or otherwise making it clear that their attention is elsewhere. But is it acceptable for a faculty member to deal with these disruptions by walking out of class?
Two years ago, a Syracuse University professor set off a debate with his simple policy: If he spots a student texting, he will walk out of class for the day.
Now two faculty members at
Ryerson University, in Toronto, sparked discussion at their institution with a similar … policy – and their university's administrators and faculty union have both urged them to back down, which they apparently have.
…Two professors who teach an introductory engineering course in chemistry jointly adopted a policy by posting it on the courses' Blackboard sites. The professors vowed to make tests more difficult, to encourage students to pay attention. And the professors said that after three warnings about disruptions such as cell phone discussions and movies playing on laptops, the professors would walk out of class – and students would have to learn the rest of that day's material themselves….
The student newspaper described a chaotic environment in the class where the faculty members made the threat to walk out, with loud chatting among students and even paper airplanes being shot around the room. … One student wrote about "a whole row of kids" chatting and reading Facebook throughout a recent lecture.
But this student added these questions: "Was it really fair to leave the class based on the actions of these few students? Why were we all reprimanded for their bad mistakes?"....
Controversy Over a Gay Prom at a Community College (
Inside Higher Ed)
A new gay student organization at Cabrillo College wants to know why the student government president vetoed the use of funds for the group's first big event –
a prom for students who weren't able to take same-sex partners to their high school proms, The Santa Cruz
Sentinel reported. The student government president says that he's not anti-gay, but that the group was "double dipping" because it was already receiving funds from another college source. But the gay student group notes that similar funding hasn't been a problem for other groups.
British University Accredits McDonald's Degree (
Inside Higher Ed)
Manchester Metropolitan University, in Britain, has announced that it will
accredit and issue degrees for the McDonald's two-year training program for senior managers. The program includes instruction in managing a business, human resources, finance and marketing.
Court Filing Draws Attention to For-Profit's Recruiting Tactics (
Inside Higher Ed)
Legal filings in a lawsuit by students against a Utah campus of the for-profit Everest College, a part of Corinthian Colleges, focus on recruiting tactics there. The
Deseret News reported that a former admissions officer described being told to make prospective students feel uncertain about their futures.
"The tactics also included questions designed at putting down the prospective student, making them feel hopeless, bad about their current situation and stuck at a dead end, in order to make enrolling in school look like the best solution to the problem," the former admissions officer wrote. The students' lawsuit says that Everest gave them bad information about the cost of programs and the ability to transfer credits. A spokesman for Everest said that many of the former admissions officer's statements were "factually wrong or false" and that representatives "avoid negative appeals."
