Etiquette 101: The Noisy Classroom Eater

In the normal course of events, I think it is fine if students want to bring a drink or a snack with them to my class.  Most of the time I don’t notice, and if I don’t notice, then why should I care?  While my students (I hope) don’t need a venti starbucks to stay awake in Business Associations, I was a student once too and sometimes coffee does help focus one’s concentration.  I find this to be the case at conferences that I attend – it’s just a fact of life that sometimes if you’re sitting in the same seat for two hours, it’s helpful to have something to munch on to sustain blood sugar levels. 

Interestingly, two years ago, when I taught in Pacific-McGeorge’s evening division, I had several students tell me that they were observing Ramadan and that they hoped to be able to break their fast during class.  I readily agreed, with the caveat that they should be considerate of those around them (I also thanked them for asking permission and told them they had good manners).  Another year, I had a student who wasn’t observing any holiday (to my knowledge), but who was eating a three or four course meal from the cafeteria every night throughout class.  While I didn’t really care, (because he was quiet), his seatmates right around him minded the smell of the food.  In response to their complaints that he was being rude, I asked them to address it to him directly first, and then come back to me (ah, yes, the pleasures of being an authority figure) if it was still problematic.  These efforts at self help apparently worked, since I never heard about the matter again.        

But I guess what I’m asking is, at any point is there a line where it becomes appropriate for the instructor to discuss such a matter with a student?  Right now I have some students (I actually have lots of students; this semester I’m teaching a Business Associations class with 95 students as well as a seminar, so this shouldn’t give too much away), who have been eating loud foods in class.   For example, crunchy apples (think the three or four or their equivalent in slices – eaten one after another), crunchy chips, or small foods that seem to be in a loud crinkly wrapper, one after another. 

So when does it become appropriate to say something?   We might be able to find some etiquette guidance by comparing class to the movies; this online article provides some guidelines about what foods to avoid in a theater, lest you disturb your fellow audience members.  (A colleague noted that the line depends on whether the student has brought enough for her).  I suppose that segues into the question of whether it is appropriate for an instructor to eat or drink during a class?  (Other than cough drops and water).  Thoughts?

Comments

[Patrick]

Student here.

First, when someone sitting between me and the front of the room smacks their food, crinkles their wrappers, or crunches their potato chips, I sometimes cannot hear the professor speak. Definitely not an educational experience mentioned in the admissions brochure.

Second, I don't appreciate it when a person in a previous class has filled my workspace with crumbs, spilt coffee, gobs, goop, or sluge. Come to think of it this isn't necessarily limited to foodstuffs, but that seems to be the biggest problem.

So, yeah. From a student's perspective eatig can be disruptive and detrimental to the classroom.

[Patrick S. O'Donnell]

Teacher's perspective: I don't allow eating in my classroom. When allowed to eat in the classroom, students leave crumbs, wrappers, and so on, in short, a mess, which a janitor must clean up later, and with cutbacks in maintenance I'm sure those cleaning up have other pressing duties. And the students who follow them at the desks don't appreciate it (see the other Patrick above). I myself never eat in class and only take a sip of water if I get a tickle in my throat or have a cough, etc. I do allow drinks (non-alcoholic) in the classroom but I ask the student to be very careful and make sure they clean up after themselves (alas, some students have grown accustomed to others picking up after them).

[Eric Fink]

Back when I was in grad school, I was a TA for a professor ("Terry") who had notoriously odd personal habits. Once, when we had a guest speaker (a faculty member from another department), Terry sat behind the speaker, munching on a baked potato as if it were an apple. When the guest noticed this, he paused for a moment, then related an example of cultural relativism (which he attributed to the great Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins): "If, at a suburban barbecue party, the host were to roast a whole hog on a spit, you'd probably think that was pretty neat; but if the host were to roast a whole dog on a spit, you'd probably think that was disgusting. Now, Terry, if you were eating a Milky Way bar, I wouldn't have said anything."

Personally, I've never had an issue with a student eating in class. If they do it, they're generally discrete enough that it doesn't create a distraction. But, thus far, nobody has ever tried roasting a whole animal, dog or hog, in class.

[Miriam A. Cherry]

That's a great story, Eric!

[AstridT]

Another student here. I'm sensitive to food sounds. I realize that I am far more inclined than most to find the sound of someone eating massively annoying/repulsive. I've been known to relocate in the library if someone sneaks in a snack and busts it out in my presence, even if it's a quiet food. So, from the perspective of an admittedly overly-sensitive grouch, I would hope that a professor would never allow eating during class, if for no other reason than it would lessen the chances of me running screaming from the room.

[Miriam A. Cherry]

Astrid, You may be very sensitive to this type of noise! It's only when it gets noisy that I'm thinking it's an issue...