Yesterday's shocking announcement that 78 students were turned in to the College as a result of the Computer Science 4 cheating scandal, and that at least 63 of them will have hearings before the Committee on Standards, left the campus stunned, as the numbers were nearly double the anticipated 40 students expected to be implicated in the incident.
In a BlitzMail message to his class two weeks ago, professor Rex Dwyer assured students "that in the end slightly more than 40 names were (or will shortly be) forwarded to Parkhurst Hall."
Both Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson and chair of the computer science department Scot Drysdale speculated yesterday about the reasons for the disparity between the estimated and actual numbers, though neither was able to provide a definitive answer as to why the number was significantly higher than anticipated.
"My best explanation is that I presume that he did further review and assessment of the homework assignments," Nelson said, speculating that this led Dwyer to turn in more names than anticipated.
Drysdale agreed with the statement, though he added he believed that some students who received the code from teaching assistants may have been turned in as well.
In the earlier BlitzMail message, Dwyer assured students that this would not be the case -- writing that he did not believe any of the students he turned in were cases of TAs giving away the answers, and also that he would specifically exclude these students from his reports to the administration.
Nelson told The Dartmouth that at this point it is unclear which of the students may have received the solutions from TAs and who more deliberately cheated by downloading answers directly off the website or from BlitzMail messages, though he said he is currently working to compile evidence to try to determine the various sources of the allegedly copied code.
Nelson added that the 63 students who have been notified that they will have to come before the COS all appear to have potentially violated the honor code, though he stressed that the final determination will be made by the committee.
Undergraduate Judicial Affairs Officer Marcia Kelly told The Dartmouth last night that all students who have been implicated in the scandal were notified over the last two days via BlitzMail messages as well as correspondence via Hinman Mail.
Dwyer's home school's reaction
In an e-mail transmission dated Feb. 17 from Dwyer to the chair of the computer science department Alan Tharp at his home institution of North Carolina State University, and carbon copied to The Dartmouth, Dwyer criticized the Dartmouth CS department for failing to provide him with adequate support from the beginning.
Dwyer wrote that he was misled by the department, the class enrollments were approximately 75 percent larger than he anticipated, he was not provided with an office until he had been at the College for nearly a week and it took even longer for the department to provide him with a Macintosh computer.
He further wrote he was annoyed because he was allegedly criticized by a member of the department for his handling of a class topic, especially since he later found that the Dartmouth faculty member's textbook presented the subject in the same manner as his lecture.
"Neither academic integrity or academic freedom seems to be very highly regarded here," he wrote.
The message sent to Tharp was prompted by a BlitzMail message sent to several members of the CS 15 class who were asked by another professor to evaluate Dwyer's teaching. The responses, which included many unfavorable reports, were then forwarded to Dwyer without the students names.
The message soliciting opinions on the class began by stating "that CS 15 is not going as smoothly as we all might hope. Let me start off by assuring you that it is not at all the intent of the computer science department to provide a substandard course."
Students were then asked to comment on the course.
In an interview with The Dartmouth from his office in N.C. yesterday, Tharp said Dwyer contacted him and expressed concern that cheating in CS 4 had occurred.
While he declined to comment further on the conversation, Tharp said while cheating occurs in some CS classes at N.C. State, the department there has never experienced a case of this magnitude.
Tharp also said that, while Dwyer is on sabbatical from N.C. State until next August, he will return to the school and teach three courses including one graduate level class.
Dwyer could not be reached for comment.
