Dear Sirs:

I should like to comment on the article on my course Engineering 4020 (Safeguarding Intellectual and Business Property) appearing in your April 5 edition.

Had Mr. Malik received a B or A grade (as did 61% of my Fall '93 students and 75% of those in the '94 term) instead of a C+, I seriously doubt whether this article would ever have been written.

In my 30 years at Columbia, I frankly do not recall another student attacking the exam as "unfair". Providing short answers by filling out a table apparently infuriates Mr. Malik but has never presented a problem to some 700+ former students. One might expect an "unfair" exam would result in a disproportionate number of poor grades. 61% of students receiving A's or B's hardly fits this profile.

I am particularly irritated by several statements made by Malik which are not only false but slanderous. In 30 years I have never referred to my students as "victims". Indeed I have gone to some length to support my students -- letters of recommendations, career advice as well as establishing a scholarship with my own funds for the benefit of Columbia engineers.

I do indeed warn students at the beginning of the term that this is a law course where identifying relevant issues (rather than a single "correct" answer) is key. This is done to help my class. Mr. Malik apparently did not take heed of this advice which he perverts to be some sort of sadistic statement.

Again contrary to his article, I receive calls from perhaps 3 or 4 students per term (less than 10% of class) seeking to understand why they did poorly. I suspect this is a common experience at Columbia. Unlike Mr. Malik the discussion typically ends by the student acknowledging the defects in his/her answers rather than attacking the "fairness" of the exam.

Before the Moment publishes a personal attack on a faculty member (especially by a disgruntled student licking his wounds over a poor grade), please take a few minutes to speak to the faculty member to ensure the fairness of the article. An elective course given for some 30 years has certainly withstood the test of time.

As to Mr. Malik, I suggest you speak to the 61+% of students who did better than you on the Fall '93 exam to see if they agree with you as to its "unfairness". Mr. Malik -- it is time to grow up.

Adjunct Professor Robert I. Pearlman

Editor's note:
Mr. Malik's editorial is exactly that--an editorial, and not an article. The Moment does not publish such editorials to slander faculty, but merely to provide one student's perspective on a certain topic. Your response represents exactly the kind of dialogue that we wish to foster.


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