I am a assistant photo editor for the GW Hatchet and I was actually present in the classroom when this took place. My photographer did not instruct students to do anything. It was actually my overzealous professor trying to be helpful who instructed students to do this so that the photographer could “get good pictures”. Obviously this is a violation of journalism ethics and that is why we did not publish any of his photos in either our print or online editions.

“Surfing the Web may soon disappear entirely from Georgetown classrooms, as a growing number of professors enact policies either banning or discouraging laptop use during lectures and discussion sections.”

From The Hatchet:

“Facebook, video-chatting and instant messaging may soon be a thing of the past – at least in some GW classrooms.
“A growing number of professors are banning or restricting the use of laptop computers in their classrooms in an attempt to get students to pay attention and engage in classroom discussions.”

But hey, at least they didn’t clear out all laptop users and try to pass it off as a dry classroom.