Hey, my friend just started grad school at USC :)
But yeah, I've never heard of a department banning laptops before. I would suggest the same thing others have. Just talk to your profs and explain your situation. If they're not dicks they should be willing to help you out. But. You know. There's a very good chance a lot of them are dicks. So.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems
ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999