By Rebecca Vallas '09 & Adam Whitehouse '10
SBA ACC Co-chairs

As many of you are aware, this school year has been marked by an increased number of professors banning the use of laptops in their classrooms. This has been combined with other professors allowing laptops but banning Internet use in the classroom; several professors who have banned Internet use are attempting to enforce the ban by requiring students to sign honor code pledges.

The SBA, largely through the Academic Concerns Committee, is attempting to voice student opinions on this issue to the administration and the professors. Overall students appear to be in opposition to the laptop and internet honor code bans.

One of the primary concerns with the laptop ban is that many students were not informed that laptops were not allowed in certain classes until after they were already enrolled. One suggested solution is to include whether laptops will be allowed in class in the course description. Hopefully this can solve the problem. To be effective, this would also require not allowing professors to change their laptop use selection once they have submitted their course description.

A larger issue is the use of the Honor Code to attempt to restrict internet use in class. These Honor Code bans could cause a student to fear that simply opening one internet page could lead to their expulsion from the University (don’t worry, this is likely not the case). Students should know that under the Honor Code they are not required to report the honor violations of another student. That is not to imply that students should not report Honor Code violations if they occur but serve as a reminder that you do not need to fear committing a violation of the Honor Code for not reporting internet usage. It is very likely that the Honor Committee would view the use of the Honor Code to ban internet usage as an application of the Honor Code in a manner for which it was not intended. The Honor Code strictly covers lying, cheating, and stealing. A violation of the Honor Code also requires intent (willful or intentional) and non-triviality. If an Honor Code ban case were brought before the Honor Committee, it could be thrown out on triviality if toleration of such an act was not perceived to “impair the community of trust sufficiently enough to warrant permanent dismissal from the University.”

The Academic Concerns Committee is interested in hearing any additional questions, comments, or suggestions you might have. We can only tell administrators your opinion on the laptop ban if you tell us.

Email: rvallas@virginia.edu

adamwhitehouse@virginia.edu