A friend had an accommodation to use a computer in class. Only those with accommodations could use computers. The teacher required that those using computers sit in the front row.
This seems like it might have been a larger class, but maybe those using the computers had to sit in a certain area?
It does seem ridiculous to cause all this commotion during class time.
@twoinanddone I think the prof in your friend’s class could get into trouble for violating those students’ right to privacy. Only kids who had an accommodation could use computers and they have to sit in the front row. So if you have a computer, everyone in your class now knows you have an accommodation.
I wonder if not everyone is reading the article? I think it’s 100% fine for a prof to assign seats, I don’t even think it’s that weird. The problem comes in the details.
1)When kid showed up to class someone else was sitting in his assigned seat - so professor has no problem with kids sitting in incorrect seats.
2) the person sitting in his seat left at some point and professor continued class.
3) 5 minutes later professor asked him to move.
Those are all strange. If the professor cared why didn’t he tell the person sitting in the incorrect seat in the beginning to move??
While I understand the need for sometimes assigning seats, when a professor is asking a student to change seats, the student is owed an explanation. These are adults, and it isn’t the military, and “because I said so” is not an appropriate response by a professor to an adult. This is especially true in this case, in which the student was not being asked to return to his assigned seat, but to move from one unassigned seat to another.
The professor was focused on his ego, rather than on the best way to run his class.
@MWolf, yes, I agree, my speculation is that this bizarre little incident probably was fueled by the prof’s oversize ego. Either he enjoys exerting control for nonsensical reasons, or prof thought he was being magnanimous by offering up the newly free seat (because it was closer to the student’s assigned seat), and grew irate when student didn’t take him up on it. I picture student responding with “Thanks, but I’m good,” while prof wanted him not only to move seats but to profusely thank prof, “Oh, thank you so much,” bow, scrape, bow, scrape. And do I think racial bias played into the prof blowing his stack to the point of calling the police (stereotypes of African Americans as ungrateful, sullen, difficult, etc.) – you bet I do.
The video in the article is weird. It’s not even racist, more like some mild form of OCD. Who restacks a classroom mid-period? The kid seemed nice, the cops were reasonable, the other students reached out to smooth things over and the prof just seemed a bit confused why he couldn’t move his stapler from this corner of his desk to that corner. He’s been teaching there since 1983, so I might expect the administration to start pricing gold watches on Amazon any time now.
I was thinking the prof had OCD, or early dementia which can cause a lack of judgement.
I can’t imagine assigning seats in my classes. Also as mentioned above, making a student’s accommodations public (not that this is what it seems to be) would definitely be a big NO at my university.
I know a faculty member at Ball State, and they are livid about this professor’s behavior.
When I taught middle school and high school I never did assigned seating. Sometimes I had to separate students who were misbehaving or distracting one another. But, as long as my classes behaved and did the right thing, I never had to assign seats…
It’s an upper division course (300 series), but yet one wonders how much subject matter material is actually taught and learned if the professor is calling the police for such a minor incident. I’d be very concerned if this guy was on my faculty.
White kid is sitting in black kid’s assigned seat. Prof doesn’t want to dislodge white kid, so when black kid asks if he can sit elsewhere, prof agrees. Another white kid in a seat that is closer to the front leaves, so prof asks black kid to move to the newly vacated seat.
But by now, black kid is unpacked, plugged in, and taking notes, so he says no. And yes, I’m sure he was somewhat resentful that a white student in the wrong seat was not asked to move, while he, the black student who accommodated the mis-seated white student was.
If this doesn’t seem suspiciously like racism to you, I don’t know if anything would.