Cheating at UCLA

The problem that UCLA teacher Andras Bodrogligeti is having because of his students’ cheating (July 19) is not an isolated incident, nor confined only to UCLA. Having taught for over 10 years, I have seen similar problems (at various schools) when there are disputes between teachers and students. Colleges today often do not discipline students for cheating, or anything else. Schools are paid by the state for each student. Schools do not get paid for teaching; they get paid for how many bodies are enrolled. Consequently, teachers are routinely punished if they do not keep their students happy, which means that standards continue to drop.

If Bodrogligeti were not tenured, or if he were a part-time teacher, he would now be out of a job.

A.J. BURGER

Los Angeles

* Your report on Bodrogligeti, the Turkish language professor victimized at UCLA because he tried to report widespread cheating, rang dishearteningly true. I, too, have seen up close how the university’s professed concern for “integrity” is reduced to lip service when it comes to cases of apparent student misconduct. It’s a result of a growing alliance between students and administrators--between self-interest and the bottom line--against faculty.

I think Bodrogligeti ran into a “customer satisfaction” mentality that creates disincentives against demanding things from students or holding them accountable. What’s needed in response is a counter-alliance of professors and the public, the two groups whose interests lie in seeing that tax-supported universities justify their costs by keeping standards high.

JEFF SMITH, Lecturer

UCLA Writing Programs

* So UCLA students cheat a little and the administration investigates the instructors who caught them. Look at the bright side. It proves that athletes receive no better treatment than the rest of the student body.

ROBERT W. HOMAN

Manhattan Beach