Dozens Suspended In Harvard University Cheat Scandal 264
johnsnails writes "Around 60 students at Harvard University have been suspended and others disciplined in a mass cheating scandal at the elite college, the campus newspaper reports. The Harvard Crimson quoted an email from Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Michael Smith that said more than half of the cases heard by administrators in the scandal, which erupted last year, had resulted in suspension orders. 'After professor Matthew B. Platt reported suspicious similarities on a handful of take-home exams in his spring course Government 1310: “Introduction to Congress,” the College launched an investigation that eventually expanded to involve almost half of the 279 students enrolled in the course.'"
Re:First reaction was... (Score:4, Informative)
The case is more complicated than simply copying.
1) This class used to be easy, but this year it was very hard
2) A lot of athletes etc. got in the class so that they could pass. When it was tough they panicked
3) They went to teaching assistants with questions about "interpreting" the exam. The TA's helped them freely. This was considered cheating in exams and resulted in suspensions.
4) Some cheated outright. Many resulted in expulsions with grades for the year getting set to zero and tuition for the year being refunded.
5) A few students copied class notes, but did not copy in the exam. This was looked at on a case by case basis and resulted in punishments (some expelled, some not)
Re:Details would be nice... (Score:5, Informative)
Here are some details, from the various Harvard Crimson articles on the topic.
The cheating occurred on a take-home exam. The instructions for the exam stated that it was open notes, open book, and open Internet, but that talking to other people about the exam was forbidden.
The exam was a different format from previous years' final exams. Previously, the only questions on the exams had been essay questions. This year, short-answer questions were added to the exam. Many students thought the short-answer questions were more difficult than the essay questions. In fact, in previous years, the course had been widely regarded as easy, in part because of the easy exams, but students in the year in question did not find it to be easy. Many students also thought the short-answer questions were confusing. During the period in which the exam was assigned, the professor sent out at least one email providing clarification on the short-answer questions due to mass confusion.
After the exams were collected, it was noted that many students turned in very similar answers on the short-answer questions. This suggested that they had collaborated, in violation of the exam instructions.
Re:My Theory (Score:5, Informative)
Look at Lance Armstrong. Do you think *nobody* in his inner circle knew he was doping? Sure they did. But they also knew fame and fortune would come from Armstrong's wins, and they could bask in that to considerable benefit.
They were also harassed, threatened, and sued every time they did accuse him of doping. There have been a lot of people who knew, who accused him of it over the last 10 years.