(KRT) When cell phones started ringing during Peter Telep’s classes at the University of Central Florida, the English instructor came up with an unusual solution: He gets to answer the call.

Telep has taken messages from boyfriends and girlfriends, telling his students’ significant others, “This is the English teacher, and we’re busy right now.”

On the first day of class, Telep said, he warns students about his policy.

“Believe me, after seeing that happen once in class, every cell phone is switched off,” Telep said.

The widespread use of cell phones on college campuses has left many teachers searching for the right way to help reduce what they see as a classroom disruption.

Like Telep, some instructors take a creative approach. But others have more serious rules, such as asking students to leave class or taking points off their grade if their telephone rings.

“In my course, you get one warning,” Roberta Vandermast said. Vandermast, a professor of humanities at Valencia Community College, said she deducts points from her students’ grades if their phones go off.

“I advise them that if the situation is so critical that they need to be contacted, then they need to be either at home or closer to the problem,” she said. “It is not only a problem for me, but also for my students.”

Instructors aren’t the only ones irritated by the nonstop ringing.

Andrea Lockhart, a junior at UCF, said she gets “extremely annoyed” when her peers don’t turn off their cell phones.

In one class, she said, a student not only answered his phone, but he proceeded to talk on it. In another class, a phone rang while the students were taking an exam.

“That was the worst,” she said. “It worried me the rest of the test, praying that I had remembered to turn my own ringer off.”

Lockhart said she thinks some students don’t care about being courteous.

“I am paying good money to sit in my classes, and once I am there, I try to stay focused on what is going on in the classroom,” Lockhart said.

“When someone’s phone rings, not only does it disturb me but everyone in the room,” she said. “Even more so, it distracts the professor, who then usually comments on it and throws the lecture off.”

Whether it is in a class syllabus, classroom signs or a simple announcement at the beginning of class, instructors are trying to get the word out that cell phones must be turned off.

Neither UCF nor VCC has a policy on how to handle the issue, so instructors are allowed to set their own guidelines.

“The teachers do have the right to set their own rules,” said Arlen Chase, vice chair of the faculty Senate at UCF.

Chase, who is also the school’s chapter president of the United Faculty of Florida, said he doesn’t consider cell phones a problem in his anthropology classes.

“It depends on the instructor,” he said. “I can see why some people get upset.”

Professors at Rollins College say cell phones haven’t become a problem on their campus.

Greg Gardner, chairman of the Department of Communication at Rollins, said phones rarely ring in his classes.

“If one should ring . the student is very apologetic and immediately turns the phone or pager off,” Gardner said.

Rollins Professor Connie Hudspeth agrees and said phones ring “every once in a while.”

But, unlike most professors, Hudspeth sometimes asks students to bring their phones to class.

“For us, it is vital students have them for group projects,” she said.

Hudspeth’s students work on projects involving the community and are allowed to contact their sources during class.

“In a group situation, we use (cell phones) as vehicles,” she said.

Cliff Morris Jr., dean of mathematics at VCC’s west campus, said no matter what approach an instructor takes, it is important for all professors to clearly present their policy in the class syllabus.

He said a warning should be offered before harsh actions are taken.

“I think a grace period is suitable,” Morris said. “The first week of classes should provide enough notice to students. . (They should) consider it part of preparation for the class.”

Morris said he knows professors who give no grace period and immediately ask the student to leave class if their cell phone rings. That’s something that some students say is too harsh.

When Erika Arias’ phone rang during a class at VCC, she was asked to leave. She said it was the first time her telephone rang, and even though her class syllabus stated the rule, she expected a warning.

“To ask us to leave class is unfortunate,” Arias said. “We pay for the class.”

Arias said she has seen teachers write on the board or announce at the beginning of class to turn off phones. She said if all teachers practiced this policy, it would help remind students.

“Some of us just forget . we are human,” Arias said.

Cell phones are distractions in the learning process, Morris said, and it is up to the teacher to limit class disruptions. He also said it is the students’ responsibility to put the phones on vibrate or turn them off.

“We are concerned about learning, and cell phones aren’t a part of it,” Morris said. “You have to consider the impact it has in the classroom.”

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