In light of the recent allegations that as many as 40 students cheated on a Computer Science 4 assignment, students have expressed criticism of both Professor Rex Dwyer as well as the CS department for failing to provide adequate tutoring resources and structure for the class over the course of the term.
Students in both CS 4, taught by Dwyer, and CS 15, which he taught until this week, said that the classes were poorly organized from the beginning and that the department did little to help Dwyer fix the problems during his first term as a visiting professor at Dartmouth.
"I think he came here not really planning to teach but to do research," one student said, "he didn't seem very sure of what he was supposed to be teaching."
All students interviewed by The Dartmouth wished to remain anonymous for fear of implication in the scandal or possible retaliation by the department in this or future CS classes, but all gave similar comments about the class and the professor.
Students have especially criticized Dwyer's poor staffing of tutoring sessions, a problem that partly caused him asking to be relieved from professorship of CS 15 earlier this week.
Dwyer told The Dartmouth in a previous interview that he had expected more from the department in terms of staffing the sessions. He added that as a visiting professor he had not come to the school expecting to have to recruit students to fill the positions immediately when he arrived.
One CS 15 student agreed, saying that he believed Dwyer may have been shortchanged by the department regarding the staff, but added commenting that there were other problems with the class that had little to do with the shortage of tutors.
Other students in CS 15 said that part of the problem was Dwyer's lack of experience with the usual syllabus for the class, as well as the program used by the class and the Macintosh operating system itself.
Indeed, Dwyer included a note on the course's website to that effect. "Warning: Your instructor has never used either CodeWarrior or a Mac. Take questions to your TA," he wrote.
A CS 4 student, however, told The Dartmouth that he believed it was the interactions between Dwyer and his students that caused most of the problems in that class.
The student commented that the professor's initial admission that he had not used a Macintosh in the past as well as the fact that he spent part of the first class becoming acquainted with the computer may have led many of the students to lose respect for Dwyer.
"This lack of respect, in turn, caused the classroom atmosphere to plunge to such a depth that I have not witnessed since middle school," the student wrote in a BlitzMail message to The Dartmouth.
"Students chatted freely in lecture, others asked insultingly derogatory questions in class, while still others 'read' porno mags in class and shared them with their friends in the neighboring seats," the student wrote.
Dwyer himself described the class as "a bit undisciplined" and wrote on the class' website that they have "difficulty understanding when class starts and ends."
Another student said that he believed a great deal of the problem in CS 15 arose earlier in the term when another CS professor blitzed some members of that class to ask them for their opinions of Dwyer. The professor then forwarded the responses, several of which were negative, to Dwyer after removing the students' names.
"Students complained they were getting screwed in the class," the student said, "[Dwyer] said pretty much the same thing."
The professor had blitzed the students he had previously taught in CS 5 to gather their opinions of both CS 15 and Dwyer.
The student added that the controversy between the students, Dwyer, and the department following the criticism was a large part of the reason he dropped out of the class.
A grader from CS 4 said the issues over Dwyer as a professor had little do with his qualifications, which the grader said are clearly strong.
"It was because he was not from Dartmouth," the grader said. "It was just not organized well -- it's not so much his fault, it was more an issue of him becoming adjusted."
The department declined to comment and Dwyer could not be reached for comment.
The investigation
Dwyer told The Dartmouth on Wednesday that he expected to know more about how many students would be implicated in the cheating scandal yesterday, though when contacted he declined to make any statement about the incident.
Dwyer did, however, say that while he and the department had uncovered more information, he would not make further comments on the investigation in compliance with College policies.
At the same time as the cheating scandals continues to attract the negative attention of the national media, Chair of the computer science department Scot Drysdale declined to comment on specific details of the investigation, saying that while they have begun investigating it is an ongoing process that is not over yet.
