While the campus and the students in the Computer Science 4 class wait anxiously to find out who will be affected by the recent alleged cheating violations, chair of the CS department Scot Drysdale told The Dartmouth yesterday that his department will most likely not be involved with the handling of the incident any longer.
While the CS department would be more than willing to assist the administration and, if necessary, the Committee on Standards, Drysdale said he did not expect to be asked to play any further role in the process.
"It's the COS's show," Drysdale said, referring to the fact that it is likely that hearings will be held by the College's main judicial body to determine if more than 40 CS 4 students cheated on an assignment in the class.
Dean of the College James Larimore and Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson have both said in past interviews with The Dartmouth that the determinations will likely be made before the end of the term and they are currently reviewing the cases.
No students have yet received notification that they are currently under investigation by the administration, though if the matter will, in fact, be resolved this term it is likely that they will be notified sometime over the next few days.
Drysdale also told The Dartmouth that his department has not let students know if they were identified by visiting professor Rex Dwyer as alleged cheaters.
He said the department may send letters to CS 4 students not implicated in the scandal telling them that all students who were suspected of cheating had been notified if the administration requests it.
Drysdale said that, while Dwyer is presently out of town, he has finished his work with the scandal.
As a result of the fact that he is no longer teaching either his CS 15 or CS 4 classes, Dwyer may leave Dartmouth at any time, though Drysdale said he was not sure when the professor officially plans to depart.
Drysdale said his department has not yet discussed any plans to change their course procedures to prevent cheating as a result of the incident, though he did not rule out the possibility that they may investigate making such changes.
He also said that the department will continue to offer visiting professors the chance to research and teach at the College, adding that few changes will be made in this area, with the exception of making sure these professors have adequate support from the department.
In the past Dwyer has criticized the department for failing to help him staff tutoring sessions for his classes, though others have said the issue had more to do with poor communication between the department and Dwyer.
