The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 18, 1984 Page: 4 of 12
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The Prospector, October 18, 1984 • Page 4
•inion
Grieves voices
gi
vances
By Robert B. Grieves
Letter to the Editor
I read with considerable interest your editorial of
16 October which included reference to a derogatory
remark which I made about your newspaper. I
carefully checked my notes and found that I did say
just that, and therefore I will stand by my statement.
After reading your 16 October front page, and
editorial page follow up to Wendy Dowking’s totally
irresponsible story of 11 October, a retraction of my
remark is obviously not in order.
I also read in your editorial that “He (Grieves)
never denied that cheating was not a problem in his
college.” Because I did not say to Ms. Dowkings
either that cheating was a problem or was not a pro-
blem, and both she and you know that to be a fact, I
am surprised and pleased to note that you have con-
cluded that cheating is not a problem in the College
of Engineering.
Let us turn to some facts about the College of
Engineering. We enroll . 2,900 undergraduate
students and 300 graduate students. Approximately
20 percent of our students are international and
come to us from countries all over the world.
We are proud of our student body and its diversity
and are just as proud of our good students from Iran
as those from Malaysia, Louisiana and El Paso. Our
students are serious and conscientious, work hard
to get a good, solid education, and obtain responsi-
ble positions in industry thoughout the United
States and the world.
I teach freshman chemistry (3105 and 3106), which
has enrolled many engineering students, and also
majors from all the other colleges. I can speak first-
hand about the ability, conscientiousness and
character of our students.
IUCL
FAMI
We are proud of our
student body and its
diversity
Reader’s Response
55
===--=---=============
Union, El Paso, Texas, 79968.
The recent engineering re-accreditation report
from ABET/EAC which resulted from a rigorous in-
spection and evaluation of our programs by a team
of external examiners was consistently complimen-
tary of engineering students, calling them
dedicated, mature and knowledgeable.
By now I am sure that your readers know that Ms.
Dowkings had no factual basis for her allegations
concerning cheating in the College of Engineering
relative to that on the campus as a whole. At UT El
Paso, the number of students accused of cheating
and those found guilty and penalized, by Depart-
ment and College and by ethnicity, are known only
to the Dean of Students, and you and Ms. Dowkings
are very well aware that he did not, does not, or will
not reveal those numbers.
By now I am also sure that your readers unders-
tand that when attempting to write, evidently in
some haste, a story about students accused (but not
yet found to be either innocent or guilty) of cheating
and to typify those students by country of origin,
ethnicity, or whatever, a reporter needs to exercise
special care and responsibility.
She must be careful not to attribute to people
(whether students, faculty or administrators)
statements relative to which the individuals have in-
sufficient factual information.
The sad part about all of this is that a College, its
students in general, and its Iranian students in par-
ticular were maligned publically without factual
basis.
If The Prospector and its editor and staff cannot
exercise a reasonable measure of journalistic
responsibility, then the only solution for us “gutless
officials”, and the one which I recommend most
strongly to faculty, staff and students in the College
of Engineering, is to cease entirely giving comments
or interviews to The Prospector’s staff.
Reporter thanked
Editor,
I write in reference to Roberta
Varela’s article entitled “Talent
night show features
creativeness,” in The Prospec-
tor, Sept. 18.
Specifically I want to thank
her for the good review of the
University Talent Show. We do,
indeed, have some brave facul-
ty, staff and students who have
talent.
The big point of her article,
though, had to do with James M.
Peak, Director of Development
and his collecting of money. She
wondered what he was going to
do with the money. I want to
answer that because Mr. Peak
graciously did the collection at
my request.
He was successful to the tune
of $53, an amount he has turned
over to the University Heritage
Commission, which I serve as
chairman.
Now I ask Roberta Varela if
she will kindly make a contribu-
tion or help us collect to finish
getting the Commission out of
the red. We do, indeed, need to
raise more money.
James M. Day
Chairperson of the University
Heritage Commission
Facts requested
Editor,
The Prospector has been a
source of amusement and in-
terest for the past week. Certain
University officials claimed
(their story has changed like the
weather) that students from “a
certain part of the world (read as
the Middle East)” cheat a lot.
This may be true, but let’s find
out for sure.
If Jose Avila, dean of stu-
dent affairs, can find time bet-
ween debates over who said
what, maybe he could release a
complete statistical list (no
names please!) of all students
accused and convicted of
cheating in the last five years.
This list would be broken
down by each student’s country
of origin and major. This would
allow all of us to make up our
minds on who cheats and where
most cheaters are from, whether
it be Iran or Indianapolis.
C’mon Avila — let’s clear this
smokescreen and let the facts
speak for themselves.
Rajesh Paulose and Cameron
Lonsdale
UT El Paso engineering
students
The Prospector
Editor: Olga Camacho Reporters: Wendy Dowkings, Julian
Managing Editor: Dean Lockwood Resendiz, Damiane Calderon,
News Editor: Paula Monarez Genine Fether
Copy Editor: Michael Mitchell Entertainment Editor: Roberta Kay
Student Advertising Manager: Nancy Varela
Dimascio Sports Editor: James Martinez
Student Assistant Advertising Photo Editor: Victor Calzada
Manager: Lilly Gonzalez-Blake
Photographers: Brian Smith, Grace
Saenz
Circulation Directors: Dennis
Apodaca, Danny Apodaca
Advertising Sales: Connie Solis,
Steve Jones, Amanda Villarreal
Grieves is Dean of the College
of Engineering
The Prospector (USPS 448-020), is published by The Student Publications for students' copies. Second class postage paid by El Paso, Texas.
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University of Texas at El Paso. The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 18, 1984, newspaper, October 18, 1984; El Paso, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1625979/m1/4/?q=music: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at El Paso.