The January 24 story, Department limits calculators in wake of exam
leaves important things unsaid. I was in Copeland 104 the evening of the disastrous final. I have no way of proving whether all Dr. Kirch's claims about the details of the alleged cheating were true of other classrooms, but they certainly do not give a complete and accurate picture of what happened in mine.
The real newsworthy story here is not one about cheating, but about the shockingly unprofessional and offensive way Dr. Kirch handled the situation. In his interview, did Dr. Kirch ever pause in his sweeping condemnation of students to mention how he charged into the classroom ' mid-exam, unidentified ' and began waving his pointed finger at the test takers, yelling at us about disrespect?
He threatened that we would be kicked out of the university if he had anything to do with it. Right. Made perfect sense. Especially since he hadn't even told us who he was or what was going on. Some people probably knew who he was, but he was not my professor, and I had no idea.
My favorite line from the incident followed a command not to touch a single button on our calculators: I'm not messin'! Dr. Kirch clarified.
Surely I should have taken him as an authority figure based on his poise and scholarly tone. But the most irksome of his comments rings in my memory and motivates me to lash back with this letter:
You people have disrespected Ohio University!
Excuse me, sir ' I am a proud part of Ohio University, and you have disrespected me.
I did not cheat, nor did the majority of us who were subjected to his rant. I resent being presumed guilty, hindered in my test taking and spoken to as a criminal.
Was it really necessary to call the police, or was Dr. Kirch simply assuming that someone else might be as mindless of boundaries as he?
I left that test frazzled, appalled and alienated, still not knowing the identity of the angry yelling man. I was lucky I could finish the test at all in that state of mind and the state of continual interruption that lasted from Dr. Kirch's rude arrival onward.
I later called the College of Business and left a message of formal complaint for John Day, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. His secretary told me he would address the issue with a formal statement soon. She also told me that the angry yelling man I described was probably Dr. Kirch.
A few days later, I got an e-mail from David Kirch and one from John Day, both addressing the issue of cheating and largely ignoring the issue of Dr. Kirch's behavior.
Oh, pardon me; before further scolding its recipients, Dr. Kirch's e-mail did contain an exaggerated, clearly insincere and misdirected apology that said something about the honor we bring to our families. It resembled the obligatory apology of a child who does not really know what he is supposed to be sorry for.
Look, I'm obviously not defending cheating. I'm protesting the unfair treatment of and total disregard for those of us who did not cheat. I understand the administration is concerned about the negative image it could acquire because of academic dishonesty. But they should handle it rationally. Certain faculty should stop worrying so much about external publics and remember the loyal students who are the lifeblood of Ohio University. Otherwise, we will have a much bigger problem when our image, pride and respectability start disintegrating from within.
' Camille Sciria is a junior journalism major. 17
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