The University Faculty Senate acted in the best interests of both students and faculty when it voted down a resolution last week that would have recommended ways for faculty to deal with disruptive students.

One part of the proposal stated that professors should list disruptive behaviors and the resulting penalties on their syllabi. The Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly supported the resolution due to student concerns about professors arbitrarily handling disruptions.

But it would be impossible for professors to foresee every potential class disturbance at the beginning of the semester. If a student engages in a disruptive behavior that is not expressly prohibited on the syllabus, this leaves the professor with no more recourse than he or she has now, making the resolution useless.

One of the faculty members who spoke against the proposal said instructors should simply make students aware of Penn State's Code of Conduct, which mentions disruptions of classes as conflicting with the "values of the university community." It defines disruption as behavior "that unreasonably interferes with, hinders, obstructs, or prevents the operation of the university or infringes on the rights of others to freely participate in its programs and services."

The code allows for a broader range of behaviors to be disciplined and allows officials to look at each case individually; the resolution would only have permitted already-specified behaviors to be disciplined and would prescribe the same penalty for behaviors, regardless of the situation.

The concern Academic Assembly President D. Josh Troxell showed for the arbitrary way some professors handle student discipline is admirable, and students' rights should not be trampled on in the name of keeping order in the classroom. At the same time, students should have the right to attend class in a respectful environment.

By not endorsing this resolution, Faculty Senate has allowed professors to continue to use what we hope is their best discretion, in balancing students' freedom of expression and maintaining a classroom that is conducive to learning.