Comp. Science Article Undermined Student Influence

To the Editor:

This letter is in response to Adrian Leung’s article last week titled “CS Majors Upset Over New Hire.” The CS department and students have been through a tumultuous hiring process this semester, and Leung’s article on this topic is, unfortunately, poorly-researched and destructive. It completely fails to represent the broad range of issues and ideas involved, but succeeds in undermining a new professor before he has even arrived on campus.
A few points:
The document Leung quotes in paragraphs three and eight of his article, the CSMC-written student recommendation to the hiring committee, was a private document. It was private not to mask its content from the public eye, but to mask its content from the applicants so that the students could speak freely about the candidates. This is especially important when one of the candidates is a current professor (Wong), and any could potentially become professors. However Leung obtained access to this document, publishing its contents is irresponsible: it is only damaging to the CS community and the faculty’s trust in the students.
Additionally, publishing the (very direct) comments in that letter about a professor who will be teaching here next year is disrespectful and destructive. A new professor has been alienated before his arrival by comments that were made in confidence. This is not helpful in any way –– to Oberlin, to the CS program or to the students who will be taking courses with this professor next year.
Leung also neglects to ask anyone why Gegg-Harrison was hired. Perhaps the administration or CS faculty could shed some light on his appeal. I had a chance to talk to Gegg-Harrison when he interviewed. I found him very personable, intelligent and up-to-speed on the world of computer science education. Why were there no such comments in the article?
The administration has been berated for not following the students’ recommendation in this hiring process. Lincoln Ritter accuses them of “disregarding” student advice. In my experience, the CS program has been increasingly receptive to student input. Chris Koch, the chair of the department, contacts the CSMC regularly when important decisions are being made, and has given me a private audience to discuss my thoughts on the program whenever I wished. That the administration or hiring committee disagreed with the students on this decision is upsetting, but it does not mean that we were ignored.
Stephen Wong has put in an incredible amount of time and hard work for the students and the CS program at Oberlin, and I am sorry to see him go. However, the reasons for this decision are, to protect ALL the candidates, private. So was the recommendation from the students. Publishing that was not good journalism, it was a damaging expose: undermining the students’ integrity within the CS program and damaging relations with a new professor before they have even begun.

–Gabe Carleton-Barnes 
College senior
CS Major