UCLA students, administrators condemn professor’s blog post criticizing transfers

Students and administrators at UCLA are speaking out against a recent blog post by a professor that questioned the loyalty of transfer students to the university.

The post was written last week on the personal blog of Matthew Kahn, a professor of economics at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Shortly after publishing the post, the Christian Science Monitor, an international newspaper, picked it up.

In his post, Kahn, who has taught at UCLA for six years, questioned the loyalty of transfer students to a university that they only attend for two years, claiming their first-year counterparts have a greater potential for making social connections that could motivate them to donate in the future. He speculated that, for that reason, transfer students might contribute to the university’s lack of donations from alumni.

The original version of Kahn’s post also raised concerns about the quality of a community college education, describing community college students as a “watering down of the class” at UCLA.

After the post appeared last week, emails began to pour in from upset students. Some transfer students included their transcripts in the emails to show their high GPAs and involvement in the university.

Since then, Kahn has edited his post and has been apologetic. He said his tone was inappropriate and made extreme claims that may not have had a firm factual basis.

The original post, which remained online for three days, was the fourth in a series of posts exploring revenue sources for the university. Kahn said his deal with the Christian Science Monitor allows the publication to use any of his blog posts without paying him.

He made the agreement to give his blog, which was previously only read by about 200 people, more exposure, he said.

He said he has no control over the titles the Christian Science Monitor gives his posts. In this case, the title the publication originally gave his post, “How student transfers hurt public universities,” was one of the first things that opened his eyes to the notion that he may have gone too far, he said.

Carlos Sandoval, a third-year psychology student who transferred to UCLA, said he came across the post after someone from the UCLA Transfer Students Facebook group posted it for members to see.

Sandoval said he felt Kahn essentially said transfer students are less intelligent than four-year students.

“He painted transfers in a really broad stroke,” he said.

He was particularly offended by a sentence that called transfer students “transient” and characterized their treatment of UCLA as just a two-year pit-stop to a degree. He said he thinks all transfers work hard to get to UCLA and are generally a proud group of students.

Students were not the only ones upset with Kahn’s post.

“It did a disservice to our students and campus,” said Judith Smith, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education.

In response to the post, Smith wrote an op-ed in the “Voices” section of UCLA Today to “set the facts straight” for students and faculty who do not understand the quality of transfers, the financial benefits of transferring or the role of transfers in the University of California Master Plan for Higher Education, she said.

This plan requires that enrollment at UC campuses be divided with 40 percent lower-division students and 60 percent upper-division students. The only way to meet this standard is to enroll transfer students, Smith said.

Only about 18 percent of all alumni give back, Smith said. As a public institution, UCLA does not have the culture of giving that its private school counterparts have, she said.

But there is no proof that transfers are to blame, she said.

For many students, one of the most troubling aspects of Kahn’s original post is a lack of evidence supporting his claims.

“I wouldn’t be as offended if it actually had some statistics,” said Nima Shayeg, a third-year mathematics and economics transfer student.

Both his mother and sister earned UCLA degrees, a doctorate and bachelor’s, respectively.

“I’ve always been a loyal UCLA guy, and I don’t think that it should matter if I came from one place or another if I’m going to be loyal or not,” he said.

Kahn said he admits he did not research enough before writing the post. He said his writing style is to quickly shoot off an idea and revise it later.

“This time, I lost control of my product,” he said.

He did not intend to imply that these students did not belong here, he said, adding that he was looking at it from an economic perspective.

Jason Smith, general representative for the Undergraduate Students Association Council and a four-year student who has worked to help transfer students transition to UCLA, called the situation “disheartening.” Kahn’s comments conflicted with the school’s efforts to make an inclusive environment for transfers, he said.

Smith, who took a class taught by Kahn his first year, said his experience with the professor was never negative, so the blog post surprised him.

He said he intends to attend a sit-in scheduled to take place after Kahn’s class this morning.

The professor has offered to meet with students who want to talk to him about his post.

“These students are saying correctly that they earned the right to be here,” Kahn said.

The Christian Science Monitor could not be reached for comment.

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