University of Sheffield to introduce lecture seating plans to reduce disruption

The University of Sheffield is introducing seating arrangements in all lecture halls in a move to “minimise disruption to learning.”

In a leaked email sent to university staff, the institution explained that lecture-attendees will now have to keep to an allocated seat, meaning they are less likely to get distracted by chatting with friends.

Staff will now take a register at the beginning of lectures to check all students are sitting in the correct seat. Those sitting in the wrong seat will be asked to return to their correct seat immediately. If a student is caught going against the seating plan twice in one term, they will be made to retake the module.

The email explained that, while lectures are a good environment for bonding with course-mates, the seating plan will prevent “the lecturer from having to raise their voice when the room gets too loud.”

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Katie, a first year English student, told The Sheffield Tab that she’d rather fail the year than not get to sit next to her best friend.

She said: “If I don’t get to sit next to Melissa, I won’t be able to find out what’s going on with her situationship. We don’t live together so lectures are a rare but necessary opportunity to share gossip. What lecture content could possibly be more important than that?”

Horatio, a final year geography student who is currently on track to graduate with a first, disagreed, saying: “The new seating plan is definitely step in the right direction. However, if the university really wanted to make a difference, it should ban talking while students are waiting for the lecture to begin, as this time could be used more productively for going over notes.”

You should probably check the date, you April fools!

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Featured image via Unsplash and University of Sheffield logo