Survey Students Abused

To Vice Provost Diana Demetrulias, CSU Stanislaus:
I truly admire the students for their honesty and integrity in coming forward as they did, and cannot urge too strongly that they not be severely punished by CSUS. What the students say in The Modesto Bee's article is completely understandable, even to a 56-year-old goat like me, and bespeaks more than a fair amount of academic abuse on the part of the professor.

Clearly, CSUS (in true emperor's new clothes fashion) will have a strong inclination -- nay, compulsion -- to stand on its humiliated high horse and make sacrificial lambs of these poor kids. However, I think the university should think twice about where it chooses to stand. If the university feels compelled to mete out punishment, the professor should take the brunt, not his abused, and in the end, most honest and honorable young students.

People should be held accountable for their actions. But just as in other abuse cases, the abuse needs to be taken into account when judging the abused person's actions. And in this case the students were clearly being abused shamelessly.

KEN STEIN

Berkeley

Punish students, not professor

I am extremely concerned with the swirling controversy and rhetoric surrounding the botched Peterson survey. The survey was botched as a result of some dishonest, cheating and unethical California State University, Stanislaus, students.
Professor Stephen Schoenthaler trusted his students of criminal justice to conduct the Peterson bias survey. He assumed his students could be honest, ethical and trustworthy. He made a mistake.

The solution is easy: 1) Toss the survey and redo it in a highly controlled, supervised and ethical environment. 2) Expel any and all of the students who lied and cheated on this very important survey. 3) Never again assume students will be honest and ethical.

However, now I worry the powers that be are salivating to bring down Schoenthaler, another good man who made a mistake.

I implore the people in powerful places, such as CSUS President Marvalene Hughes, Vice Provost Diana Demetrulias and The Modesto Bee editorial board not to destroy this professor. The students are the guilty ones.

JAVIER RANGEL

Modesto

Students deserve expulsion

As a criminal justice master's student and research associate, I can speak out on the recent controversy regarding fabricated survey results.
I am deeply concerned about students in a criminal justice program engaging in academic dishonesty. Many students in criminal justice hope to pursue careers in law enforcement. I am not comfortable with individuals who choose dishonesty writing reports and testifying against defendants in court.

I want to commend California State University, Stanislaus, for conducting an investigation.

These students have damaged the university's reputation and the community's confidence in research. The university should determine which students fabricated results and promptly expel them.

DELORES WALTERS

Modesto