University of Chicago Law school bans Internet from classrooms

As universities across the country continue to introduce campus-wide Internet access, the University of Chicago Law School is doing the exact opposite.

The school recently announced plans to eliminate Internet access in most of its classrooms, but Penn has no plans to implement similar policies.

Saul Levmore, dean of the University of Chicago Law School, said removing Internet access will prevent students from browsing the Internet during lectures, thus losing focus on what is being taught

In an e-mail to the students and faulty, Levmore explained the problems associated with surfing the Internet.

"Several observers have reported that one student will visit a gossip site or shop for shoes and within 20 minutes, an entire row is shoe shopping," he wrote.

In the past, individual law professors across the country have issued policies banning laptops or limiting laptop use, but Chicago Law's policy is the first institution-wide plan to eliminate Internet access in classrooms.

Leo Charney, spokesman for the Provost's office, said that Penn does not have plans to remove wireless Internet from any of its undergraduate or graduate schools.

At Penn Law, decisions about whether Internet access and laptops should be allowed in classrooms are made by each faculty member, said Mark Eyerly, Associate Dean for Communications at Penn Law.

A few law professors have rules restricting laptop use to enhance the classroom environment.

Penn Law Professor William Burke-White has prohibited laptops in his lectures since he began teaching at Penn three years ago, but he was more concerned that students were spending too much time using their laptops transcribing the professor's lecture.

Instead of engaging in classroom discussions, Burke-White explained that "when students are typing every word in, they stop hearing what's being said."

Although some students were initially unhappy with Burke-White's laptop policy, he said that most of them quickly adjust to it.

Meanwhile, Levmore said that prevalent web-surfing remains a primarily concern for law school, where nearly every student owns a laptop. However, he didn't think other universities, including undergraduate departments, will follow in the University of Chicago's footsteps.

"In the long run, I think that here and elsewhere we must simply hope that our culture keeps people from these distractions in class," he said.

College sophomore Joanna Tonini expressed relief that Penn's undergraduate schools will not follow in Chicago's footsteps because she often multitasks during class.

"I would die," Tonini said.

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