Being Caught, Crimson Handed.

Another interesting development in the annals of higher education is unfolding this week. Harvard has placed 125 students under investigation for academic dishonesty, citing widespread plagiarism on a certain take-home final. The students in "Introduction to Congress," taught by an assistant professor, were given an open-book, open-note, take-home final, with the following instructions:

The exam is completely open book, open note, open internet, etc, however, in all other regards, this should fall under similar guidelines that apply to in-class exams. More specifiacally, students may not discuss the exam with others- this includes resident tutors, writing centers, etc.

These students were busted for discussing the exams with one another and with the TA's, which was supported by the fact that numerous papers had nearly identical answers. It seems, from the comments I've read, that these sort of "collaborations" were commonplace for this course. The professor had a reputation for being extremely relaxed, and the TA's were known for explicitly spelling out the solutions to every problem. Who can blame these poor kids? They may have been breaking the rules, but they were following convention. Is it really fair to arbitrarily enforce rules, and mete out consequences?

You know what this reminds me of, getting pulled over for speeding, and saying "I know officer, but I always drive 75 in the 55, and so does everybody else. You haven't pulled me over all year, so it's not really fair that you pull me over today." When we enroll in a course, or drive a car, we agree to a list of rules. Whether we are being constantly monitored or not, the rules are there. I'm not a cheater, nor am I a cheater sympathizer, but I am an occasional speeder. So, go ahead, cheat, speed, break rules, but understand that there is always a risk of the hammer of justice falling down upon you when you least expect it. If it seems that disciplinary action isn't take often, then cheating and speeding seems like a safe gamble, but as with any game of chance, you have to understand and accept the inherent risk.

On the plus side (to steal from the comments on the Crimson page, I'm not trying to be a plagiarizer, I swear), these 125 students definitely deserve A's in the course, since it seems that they have a pretty deep understanding of what congress is all about.

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