College Consumerism

Professors can be a little territorial at times, and every once in a while, they cross the line.\nIn my time at IU, I have seen a professor waste several minutes of class time to chastise a student he caught reading a newspaper during class. Other hot buttons seem to be sleeping, text messaging and listening to iPods. … Wait, a newspaper? If you were a comedian, I'd be heckling you. You're getting off easy. Don't get me wrong -- some lecturers are captivating speakers who educate through creative presentations and clever insights. Others leave students shielding themselves with the Sudoku page, lest they be lectured into a coma. \nI pay about $2,500 for a standard three-credit course at IU. If I find the word jumble in the Indianapolis Star more captivating than today's PowerPoint on the aborigines of a country with no vowels in its name, that's my prerogative. Yet, I can't even count the number of syllabi I've seen that specifically forbid this so-called "disrespectful behavior."\nUniversities get away with this kind of treatment because they are economic anomalies. With nearly infinite demand for higher education, universities don't have to focus on customer service the way, say, a hotel does. They don't have to worry as much about prices, either. In 1996, IU posted enrollment at 34,700. Last year, 37,958 students attended. Figures from Purdue reflect a similar trend. Meanwhile, tuition increases continue to outpace inflation. \nThe same demand for higher education that allows schools to raise rates with impunity allows them to shun any notion of customer service.\nBut respect is a two-way street. Here's the exception, and I'd like to direct this to my lecture-hall buddies who still think it's cool to set "Fiddy" as your ring tone. Behavior that disrupts the learning environment for other students, who also paid to attend class, is off limits. So, no talking. And turn off your cell phone. Otherwise, expect your professors to exercise their full right to subject you and your silly ring tone to public disgrace.\nSome faculty might not be too hip to the idea of consumerism in higher education. Some might argue it will force professors to sacrifice quality education in order to appease demanding students. They would be wrong.\nFaculty still have a right -- in fact, a duty -- to protect the quality of the degree. A diploma from IU should symbolize four years of hard work and actual learning. I don't want to sink myself tens of thousands of dollars into debt for a degree that doesn't mean anything.\nThe hefty price tags on IU courses don't mean the students who take them are guaranteed good grades, and a high-priced education certainly doesn't mean they can learn without putting forth any effort. Grades are sold separately.\nExorbitant tuition fees don't entitle students to a degree, special treatment or the right to disrupt others; but they do entitle us to a little respect.