I’m quite sure when we all read about the Harvard cheating story
on the news, we would have wondered how this was possible that some of the soon
to be world CEOs would cheat to be famous.
According to: Bloomberg Business Week, this is the latest.
About 125 students who took a popular Harvard University
government class are under investigation in the largest academic misconduct
scandal known at the school.
The focus of the probe is a take-home final exam on which some
students may have collaborated or copied answers, officials at Harvard, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, said yesterday. Students familiar with the
investigation said the course being probed was Government 1310: Introduction to
Congress, the Harvard Crimson student newspaper reported.
Harvard teachers spent months combing through the exams to
identify the students who are now under investigation by the college’s
Administrative Board, said Jay Harris, dean of undergraduate education.
Students who violated university rules face a variety of sanctions, including
being required to withdraw from school for a year, Harvard said in a statement.
“These allegations, if proven, represent totally unacceptable
behavior that betrays the trust upon which intellectual inquiry at Harvard
depends,” Harvard President Drew Faust said in a statement on the college’s
website.
The Administrative Board’s actions are confidential, and Harvard
won’t reveal the identity of the students or the name of the course, Harris
said. He declined to predict how long the probe might take. Harvard is using
the incident, which he called “unprecedented in living memory,” to increase
student awareness of the importance of academic integrity, he said.
“This is a national problem -- an international problem -- a
technologically enabled problem,” he said.
GOVERNMENT CLASS
There were 279 students in Introduction to Congress last
semester, according to Harvard’s website. Matthew Platt, an assistant professor
who teaches the course, declined to comment when reached by telephone.
The course is considered relatively easy by Harvard
undergraduates, said Robert Wineski, a senior studying stem-cell biology who
said he hasn’t taken the class himself.
“These are things I’ve never heard of going on, honestly,” he
said yesterday in a telephone interview. “This institution stresses academic
integrity, so it’s very surprising.”
The incident came to light when a teaching fellow noticed
similarities among a number of exams in mid-May and brought it to the attention
of the professor in charge of the course, Harris said. That led the Administrative
Board to begin a review of every exam, he said. The board was established in
1980 to handle administrative and disciplinary matters.
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
While he wouldn’t discuss specifics, Harris said school
officials believe that electronic communication was part of the apparent rule
violations. Students who have been raised in the Internet age may view all
kinds of media differently than past generations, he said.
“Technology has shifted the way people think about intellectual
property, the way people think about communicating with each other,” Harris
said.
All the students suspected of being involved in the cheating
have been informed that they will be asked to come before the Administrative
Board, Harris said. Penalties may include a warning or probation, and some
students may be exonerated, he said. No specific cases have been heard yet, he
said.
The College Committee on Academic Integrity, which Harris leads,
is preparing recommendations for reminding students of the importance of
“academic honesty,” the school said. Harvard has orientation programs that
focus on research and writing practices, such as integrity and appropriate
citation, he said.
As to what can be said about academic integrity? a further read explains
‘ACADEMIC INTEGRITY’
“We always stress academic integrity with our students,” he
said. “It’s very hard to explain to someone that this raises ethical concerns
and that it’s not OK.”
The large number of cases being investigated by the
Administrative Board from a single class is “deeply disturbing,” said Michael
Smith, dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which includes most of
its undergraduate teachers.
“At the same time, we must not forget that the vast majority of
our students complete all their assignments honestly, diligently, and in
accordance with our regulations and practices,” he said in a letter to Harvard
faculty, students and staff.
The committee will look at practices of other institutions that
have faced cheating scandals, Harvard said. Security at sites administering the
SAT and ACT tests in Nassau County, New York, was stepped up this year after
students were found to have hired stand-ins to take the college entrance exams
for them.
In 2010, Harvard senior Adam Wheeler was found to have faked his
way into a spot at the college using forged recommendations, and then applied
for scholarships with plagiarized essays.
So the question is, is Harvard really a hard nut to crack or just a walk in the park?
Credits: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-31/harvard-government-class-students-probed-for-cheating
