UCLA Dental Tuition Dispute

The School of Dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry recently became involved in a dispute about professors overcharging student fees from international students. The professors involved refute this and criticize the university authorities for being biased.

UCLA is one of the world's top universities. Its Orthodontic residency program in the School of Dentistry is highly competitive, accepting only six to eight students a year. Two to four of the positions are for international students under the school's policy. It is also under such a system that students, mentoring professors, and the school have caused a lot of controversy due to the fee system. As a result, three professors left their posts over allegations of overcharging students during their tenure.

The details of the issues were not disclosed by the three. But it was misreported in the LA Times article. At the heart of the controversy, Eric Kang Ting, in particular, came forward to clarify what had happened. Eric Kang Ting refuted the LA Times report and produced school documents and emails to prove that he did not take the fees. The fees were received by the school administration, and all relevant financial transactions were regularly tracked. This controversial project is the “Orthodontic International Training Program for Research Education Fund.” The fund, as described by the UCLA School of Dentistry Director of Development is to “support research education for individuals in the orthodontic international training program and the UCLA School of Dentistry.” The fees were destined to be used for the training of these orthodontic residents in accordance with the explicit provisions of the institution. The research and education fund was controlled directly by the Finance Office of the University after payment. All financial payments for students are deposited and approved by the Office of the Dean. Therefore, no supervising professor can cash in on the fee himself.

Professor Ting said helplessly that when the LA Times reported it, the reporter only gave him about 4 hours to respond and verify before the deadline. So Professor Ting, who was in Taiwan at the time, did not have adequate time to respond with an official statement.

The controversial training program stemmed from the mutually agreed issuance of additional funding by the international students' countries in order to provide their students learning opportunities in the latest technology and knowledge so that the students can return to their own countries to disseminate and teach it in practice to others. As these students lacked prior research experience, significant additional instructions were required to guide the students' learning on the operation of research equipment and techniques relevant to the project. During the learning process, these students can also get more research experience. Professor Eric Kang Ting stressed and presented evidence, saying that this training program fee did not have any salary paid to faculty, and that the so-called private pocketing of the fund for salary was completely false.

Some insiders pointed out that this farce was actually because Professor Eric Kang Ting was a known whistleblower within the university system on the Dean and Associated Deans’ team in academic fraud and sexual harassment of international students (https://dailybruin.com/2020/05...). Because of this, they are smearing him. Meanwhile, Professor Eric Kang Ting’s passion and enthusiasm in teaching and his protection of international students are obvious to all members of the school.

Some professors and graduates who did not want to be named, recalled that when the pandemic
began, the school authorities once did not provide or allow the international residents to wear
appropriate protective equipment. A Chinese female student was also threatened by her superiors to not let her graduate. Only Professor Ting was willing to stand up and argue with the Dean. He bought protective equipment for students out of his own pocket and cared deeply about students.

Eric Kang Ting said that he was born in Taiwan and studied in Hong Kong, which is why he especially protects international students. It was also after he joined the Section of Orthodontics and Dentistry that he began to admit students of different genders and other races to achieve diversity. Despite this, there is still an indisputable fact at UCLA that Asian have difficulties being promoted to leadership positions. Only one out of 13 key deans is Asian. In this controversy, Professor Ting said that the university management even told him face to face that "there were Chinese professors who stole technology, sold it to China, and then deported from the United States." He was stunned.

Eric Kang Ting said that these false accusations, including the previously heated controversy over student fees, have exhausted him physically and mentally. And the huge pressure has caused great trauma to his body, mind, and soul and also caused harm to his wife and daughter. He also called on Asian-American legislators and the Chinese American community to urge the California government and the UC main campus to host a truly fair and independent investigation and hearing instead of letting the Chinese become scapegoats for this race and power struggle.

A member in the UCLA School of Dentistry said that Professor Ting's departure is a great loss to UCLA, and that from the standpoint of orthodontics, Professor Ting has always been a leader in the international academic community. He has helped many difficult cases and children with craniofacial disease to successfully return to normal dental occlusion and function. His passion for the profession and his passion for actively training the next generation is likely to be extinguished, which is a real regret.

Original story (Mandarin) on World News Journal