Spring changes attitudes, causes distractions

It happens every year. When the sun shines, sitting in a classroom sounds like an impossible task. Students arrive late, toting snacks and drinks and wearing smaller, shrunken versions of their winter wardrobe. It seems the day spring arrives, the rules of classroom behavior go out the window.\n"It just becomes a lot more loose," said sophomore Clay Cook. \nCook is not the only person to notice the change. Professors have to deal with students whose reverence for formality has dropped tremendously since they went to college, when dressing to go to class often meant a nice shirt and slacks for men or dresses for women -- not the uniform of miniskirts, flip-flops and tank-tops visible each spring on IU's campus.\n"Every generation has its features," said Randall Powell, a professor in the Kelley School of Business. "It was hot pants at one time, then miniskirts. It was (about) really making a fashion statement in the '70s and '80s. Now it's much more about anything goes. You see anything in the classroom today."\nIn the 1950s, IU had a University-imposed dress code for dining rooms, and Dean of Students Richard McKaig said he would not be surprised if at one time the code extended to classrooms as well. Today, though, professors must establish their own rules regarding student clothing.\n"As long as it is related to the purpose of the course and could be logically explained," McKaig said, "absolutely the University would support that."\nA University-published pamphlet called "Guidelines for Dealing with Disruptive Students in Academic Settings" outlines what faculty can and cannot do to control behavior in their classrooms. The University conducted a study in 1997 investigating what professors consider as disruptive behavior before publishing the guidelines.\n"Usually there are issues related to classroom disruption," McKaig said. "Typically it's behavior (where) most students would encourage the faculty member to take action" because it inhibits the learning environment, McKaig said.\nOther distractions besides dress that might escape student awareness relate to technology. Laptops, iPods and cell phones appear in almost every class, allowing students to do anything but pay attention to their professors. For some students, class time has become an opportunity to check e-mail, listen to music and text message friends who are doing the same thing in a classroom across campus. \nAnd students think the professors don't notice.\n"I think that students aren't thinking about the faculty," said Christine Barbour, a political science senior lecturer. "I could be wrong about this, but we don't have a University culture of civility and mutual respect."\nBarbour said she blames not only students for their bad behavior but also faculty members who encourage the behavior by allowing disruptions in their classrooms, she said.\n"We don't ask enough of students," she said. "We let them get by with it."\nBarbour, who teaches several large classes, has seen students crawling over seats to talk to nearby friends and another student who poured drinks for his friends out of a thermos, martini-style, during class. \n"The biggest single behavior problem in large classes is slovenliness," she said. "I don't really care if people bring a Coke or cup of coffee to class, (but) I walk out of class in Woodburn 100, and it looks like a 747 after a transatlantic flight."\nSome semesters, Barbour said she tries to combat these problems by tying grades to attendance, which usually results in better overall grades for students. At other times, Barbour puts her faith in students' desire to learn at college, even when it is sunny out, she said.\nLike Barbour, many faculty members try to circumvent behavioral problems by establishing rules at the beginning of the semester. When a student violates the rules, professors have several options, such as speaking to the person in private or addressing the student in class -- every classroom sleeper's worst nightmare.\nIt happened to Cook last week, when much to his instructor's annoyance, Cook fell asleep in class.\n"He called me out (and said), 'I do have some self-respect,'" Cook said, adding that it does not bother him when other students fall asleep or are mildly disruptive in class as long as it is not a constant problem. "As long as you're not a distraction ... it doesn't bother me."\nJunior Lindsay Wade has the opposite reaction. Among the most irritating student behavior for her are smelly or noisy foods -- chips are the worst -- and ringing cell phones.\n"Everyone's cell phones go off," she said. "There are people who will pick it up and have a conversation (in class)."\nPart of the problem could be the gradual evolution from a strict classroom environment to a more lax setting, where students and professors sometimes can resemble equals. Students address instructors by their first names, leave class at their leisure and carry on conversations with classmates when the professor is speaking.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Colleen \nCorley at ccorley@indiana.edu.