A UCLA professor who caught dozens of students openly cheating on a final exam says he has been subjected to mistreatment by students and university officials since accusing the students of the offense.
Andras Bodrogligeti, who has taught Turkish as the University of California, Los Angeles for 31 years, said he and test monitors spotted about 20 students cheating on his elementary Uzbek final exam and ended up checking all 50 test-takers. They collected more than 100 crib sheets - reduced photocopies of the Uzbek grammar book - and witnessed many students peeking in their textbooks or looking over the shoulder of classmates. His aides found texts in the men bathroom, used by students on breaks.
Bodrogligeti, 72, reported the cheating to university officials 18 months ago. UCLA has yet to finish its investigation of the case. In addition, Bodrogligeti says the schools has retaliated by investigating his conduct and eliminating some of his courses. Although Bodrogligeti said he witnessed 30 students cheating, the university allowed him to seek disciplinary action only against those six he caught. Despite the ongoing investigation, some of those six have enrolled in his other classes against his wishes, he said. "They smile at me, as if daring me to do something. But what can I do?" he said
Proctor Halil Kaya said the six students went to Bodrogligeti's office and threatened to have him fired if he did not give them credit for the course. "They surrounded him, wouldn't let him up from his desk," Kaya said. "They said they were going to complain. They said, 'We will go to Dean Yu and have you licked out of the university.' One made a motion to hit him. It was outrageous." Bodrogligeti's popular summer language program has been canceled, and he says his class sizes have dwindled as word of his standoff with administrators spread across campus.
Bodrogligeti and Dean of Humanities Pauline Yu have both filed charges against each other with the Academic Senate, the faculty governing body. Yu has not commented on the dispute.
Brian Copenhaver, provost of the College of Letters and Science, said the university is investigating the charges.
"We investigate and take seriously all accusations of cheating," he said. The school's reaction has puzzled many of those involved.
"For the first time in my life, I'm not proud to be associated with UCLA," said Jason Gimm, one of two test proctors who said they witnessed the cheating. "What more did they need to act? We had proof. We confiscated the cheat sheets. We had names. But they did nothing."
Among the complaints Yu made about Bodrogligeti to the Academic Senate were that the professor engaged in "partisan treatment of student athletes," including "blatant collusion on exams."
Bodrogligeti says he only complied with requests by the school's athletic department to allow traveling athletes to reschedule exams.
Bodrogligeti said the university is reluctant to discipline the 30 students because they are of Korean descent. He said the university fears antagonizing a political strong student community. More than 3,000 of the 30,000 people enrolled at UCLA are Korean or of Korean descent.
Copenhaver said the racial allegation "doesn't make any sense to me."
Add Date: July 20, 1998
Source: Associated Press