Locked doors discourage students

Running late to his English class last semester, Steven Cantu, a psychology major, arrived at his class to find something unexpected: his teacher had locked him out.

"I woke up late, and arrived here three minutes after 8 a.m. and I was late for class and she didn't let me in," Cantu said.

Cantu's instructor (who is not named) is one of the few teachers at DMC who lock their doors.

When asked if it was fair that he was locked out, Cantu said, "No. It's only three minutes. You can't miss that much in three minutes."

Joanna Martinez, a nursing major, also believes that instructors should not lock their doors. "We're paying for our classes. If you think about it, this is our tuition money, so why should they lock the doors?"

Not everyone agrees, however. Russell Cantu, a digital media major, is in favor of a locked-door policy.

"How would you feel if you were teaching, and you felt passionate enough to say ‘Look, I'm here, I'm teaching because this is what I like to do,' and someone walks in late in the middle of a lecture?"

Amy Jones, DMC professor of speech, chooses to lock her door and has done so since she began teaching.

"It's to have some sort of control, it's not to keep students out… If you have the door closed, you control who can come into your classroom," she said.

Jones, however, does let students come in if they knock first, but she said that when students are giving speeches, those arriving late will have to wait. Jones said she has a very practical reason for keeping her door locked.

"As we've seen more campus violence in the media, I've thought it's not a bad practice because I can control, at least if it's just for a couple of seconds, who comes in my classroom," she said.

Jones said there has not been any negative reaction to her locking her doors because she tells her students the policy on the first day of class.

Gerald Sansing, professor of biology, also locks his doors. He said that he locks his doors so that he and his "hardworking students" can avoid distractions. He said he began locking his doors his first semester at Del Mar because of complaints from students that other students were disruptive.

He said during his 20 years teaching here, only about three or four students have complained about his policy and tell him other teachers leave their doors unlocked and allow students to use their cell phones.

Sansing said he usually receives thank you notes from students after each semester for keeping peace and quiet in the classroom.

The prerogative to lock the door is up to the teacher. However, some instructors such as those who teach the English labs in the Stone Writing Center, are required to lock their doors.

"It's a one-hour lab policy that all of our lab instructors lock the door out of fairness and equitability to all students to receive credit for the lab. All students are in the lab the same amount of time. That way, a student who's in class for 10 minutes doesn't get the same credit for a student who's in class for 50 minutes," said Roycelin De Leon, assistant instructor of English.

While the English lab instructors have reasons for locking the doors, other instructors have their reasons for leaving them unlocked.

"I allow students to use the bathroom during my class, and I find it distracting to have to open the door for them during my lecture," said Paul Gottemoller, a government instructor.

"Usually students, when they come in late for class, tend to slide in trying to be unnoticed, so I don't find it very distracting for me during my lectures," Gottemoller said.

If students have an issue with their instructors locking the classroom door, they may submit a complaint to the Office of the Dean of Student Engagement and Retention. The dean will pass the complaint along to the instructor who will have five days to respond.

Also, the Del Mar Student Government Association is discussing appropriate action to take when bringing this to the council.

If the complainant is unsatisfied with the instructor's response, a mediation session may be arranged. If still unsatisfied, a hearing will be held with the Student Complaint Review Board, whose members will listen to the complaint and make the final decision on a resolution.