Trial date for lawsuit won’t be set until at least June

By Scott B. Wong
Daily Bruin Staff

A UCLA professor’s lawsuit against the Regents of the
University of California won’t be set for trial until June at
the earliest, as both parties involved raised new motions at last
week’s status conference.

Andras Bodrogligeti, 76, who filed an amended suit against the
regents on April 30, has alleged that university officials have
conspired to force the 30-year veteran Turkish studies professor
into resignation ““ a move which, according to Bodrogligeti,
would lead to the demise of the Turkish studies program.

In December 1999, Bodrogligeti filed a suit against the regents,
claiming invasion of privacy and age/race discrimination under
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Lawyers for the regents maintain the university has not done
anything improper, denying all allegations.

At the May 2 status conference over Bodrogligeti’s pending
lawsuit, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert M. Letteau
did not set a trial date because additional motions from both
parties were presented. He instead set a second status conference
for June 4.

According to Attorney Alan Zuckerman, who was retained by the
regents, the court has a number of options regarding actions it
wants to take during a status conference.

“The court decided it would hear the motions and hold a
(second) status conference at the same time,” he said.

Although Bodrogligeti is bringing a motion to amend his
complaint, his lawyers fear the regents will attempt to block that
amendment.

“It appears to us that they are playing the money game.
They are counting on the fact that professor Bodrogligeti
doesn’t have the resources, emotionally or
financially,” said Attorney Diana Courteau, who represents
Bodrogligeti. “They want to prolong their case because
it’s to their advantage.”

The regents will motion to regulate the deposition process.

“The purpose of our motion is to regulate whether
additional depositions can be taken and for how long,”
Zuckerman said.

The regents will also motion to depose, or put to question, the
two plaintiffs, Bodrogligeti and his former assistant, Halil Kaya,
who filed a separate suit against the regents for being discharged
by the university without a fair hearing.

Bodrogligeti’s lawyers have already deposed a number of
high-ranking UCLA officials whose names appear in the lawsuit,
including Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel Norman Abrams, Dean
of Humanities Pauline Yu and Associate Dean of Students Cary
Porter. UCLA officials could not comment on any aspect of the case,
citing a university policy prohibiting them from speaking about
pending lawsuits.

Antonio Loprieno, chair of the Near Eastern languages and
cultures department, is also named in the suit, but has not been
deposed because he is on sabbatical in Switzerland this academic
year.

According to Zuckerman, the plaintiff’s depositions
weren’t concluded, but have been held open, which means
university witnesses could be recalled for further questioning.

Bodrogligeti said a series of incidents since 1996 led to his
suspicions of university misconduct. In December 1996, Bodrogligeti
and his assistants caught 30 students cheating on his elementary
Uzbek language final exam. More than 100 identical shrunk copies of
the textbook were found under students’ tests. Only two
students received any sanction from the dean’s office, which
has said it will not make discipline records public without the
students’ consent.

Courteau said she believes administrators conspired and plotted
the incident to prove the professor, who was near retirement, was
allowing rampant cheating in his classroom.

The Turkish American Alliance for Fairness donated $2,500 to
help pay for the plaintiff’s deposition.