Student Purgatory: Wyoming Catholic College Bans Cell Phones
One student recently opined that smartphones are dumbing down communications.
That won’t be a problem for scholars at a Wyoming institution, however:
Students at Wyoming Catholic College must surrender their cell phones to school administrators again this year due to the school’s technology policy, which requires all phones be locked in a box for the entire semester.
During the semester students may only access their phones for travel or emergency purposes.
The ban, which is now in it’s seventh year, is part of the school’s aim to foster more traditional debate between students and their peers and between students and faculty, Dean of Students Jonathan Tonkowich, told Campus Reform.
“The reason we have the rules is to uphold a certain type of community that is conducive in growing in mind, body, and spirit,” he said. “We don’t think that cell-phones are this evil thing.”
The school has had the same ban on cell phones since its opening in 2007, Yahoo News reported last week.
Tonkowich said that in his four years at the school, only two violations of the policy have occurred. The penalty for violating the university’s technology policy is performing community service.
Potential students are warned of the surprising rules during the admission process so there are no surprises, Tonkowich explained.
School officials, meanwhile, are allowed to use cell phones, and are also always reachable by the students’ parents or guardians.
Christian college bans cell phones for students again this year (Campus Reform)
Comments
When the lawsuits hit claiming some bad state was made worse, or not alemiorated by lack of a cell phone a student owned, and was paying fo, but denied access to….
Rape that police could not be summoned to stop, medical problem that help could not be called to aid, heck, even family emergency that a student could not be made aware of ( I remember when I did not get a message to “drop everything and get your butt on a plane if you want to see your grandmother before she dies” but my eventual rushed trip there did get me there in time to support my mother during the funeral arrangements)
School needs to have the computer science department come up with a app that limits the most egregious abuses without preventing emergency uses.
Heck, some schools text emergency school problems like school shutdowns and the like to keep students apprised of problems (can you say school shootings as well as snow days…)
How many students will drop off an old deactivated phone instead?
Encouraging dishonesty is never a good idea, I don’t see how this can get what the school says they want.