Harvard University has announced that it is investigating allegations that approximately 125 undergraduate students may have "inappropriately collaborated" on or plagiarized responses on a final exam last semester. College administrators are planning a broad spectrum response to these allegations in a bid to underscore the importance placed on academic integrity at the university.
While federal privacy laws prohibit Harvard from naming any of the students allegedly involved in the situation, the Wall Street Journal reports that the course in which the alleged cheating took place is called "Government 1310: Introduction to Congress."
The professor of the course brought this instance of academic dishonesty to light at the end of the Spring 2012 Semester when said professor noticed overwhelming similarities in responses on the take-home final exam and referred them to the Administrative Board.
In response, the Board reviewed the exams and interviewed the students involved. A more thorough review by the Board, in conjunction with the professor of the course is still under way and no definitive conclusions have been made yet. If the Board does eventually decide that these students are guilty of cheating, the university said that disciplinary actions may include, but are not limited to requiring the guilty individuals to withdraw from Harvard for a period of no longer than one year.
"These allegations, if proven, represent totally unacceptable behavior that betrays the trust upon which intellectual inquiry at Harvard depends," Drew Faust, Harvard University President said in a statement. "We must deal with this fairly and through a deliberative process. At the same time, the scope of the allegations suggests that there is work to be done to ensure that every student at Harvard understands and embraces the values that are fundamental to its community of scholars."
While actions and decisions are still being contemplated by the Administrative Board, the university has taken its first step in its multi-faceted strategy to emphasize the importance of academic integrity. As such, Jay Harris, dean of Undergraduate Education has presented a set of recommendations to inspire honesty among students, with a personal letter having been sent out to everyone who is currently enrolled. The letter reads as follows:
"Dear Students,
I am writing to alert you to deeply disturbing allegations of academic dishonesty involving a significant number of Harvard College students, and to remind you of every student's duty to embrace our ideals regarding, as well as the specific rules governing, academic integrity.
As detailed in this Harvard Gazette story, the College Administrative Board is currently reviewing allegations that students in one spring class may have committed acts of academic dishonesty, ranging from inappropriate collaboration to outright plagiarism, on a take-home final exam. This summer, a careful and comprehensive review by the Administrative Board of every exam from the class found that nearly half of the more than 250 enrolled students may have worked together in groups of varying size to develop and/or share answers.
Every student whose work is under review has already been contacted by the Administrative Board. If you have not been contacted by the Board, your work is not being reviewed by the Administrative Board.
In the coming weeks, the Administrative Board will meet with each student whose work is in question, seek to understand all the relevant facts, and determine whether any Faculty rules were violated. To date, the Board has come to no judgments.
Although no cases have been decided, this alarming set of allegations requires, in our view, a new campus-wide discussion among faculty, students, and administrators about academic honesty. As a first step, I ask you today to familiarize yourself with the Student Handbook rules - which were approved by the Faculty - regarding collaboration on assignments and all other rules pertaining to academic dishonesty. If you are uncertain how the rules apply in a specific situation, ask a member of the teaching staff.
Similarly, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith has asked faculty members to review their syllabi to ensure that the collaboration policies for their classes are clear, to discuss academic integrity with their students, and to work with each other to share best practices.
More is necessary, though, than simply knowing rules and refining practices. We must all work together to build a community that fully embraces the ethos of integrity that is the foundation of all learning and discovery. Without integrity, there can be no genuine achievement.
To that end, we will, among other measures, work with House Masters and Resident Deans to convene a series of conversations about academic integrity issues in the Houses, taking advantage of Harvard's unique residential life system to promote House-level dialogue on a community-wide scale.
Harvard takes academic integrity very seriously because it goes to the heart of our educational mission, as Dean Smith has said. Academic dishonesty cannot and will not be tolerated. I join him, President Faust, and College Dean Evelynn Hammonds in hoping we can all use today's news to foster a culture of honesty and integrity in everything we do as members of the Harvard community.
Sincerely yours,
Jay Harris
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies"
The next step in Harvard's academic integrity strategy pertains to the College Committee on Academic Integrity. Comprised of faculty, undergrad students, resident deans and administrators, the Committee has begun contemplating the implementation of new ethics policies or the introduction of an honor code. Lastly, the University said it will undergo massive efforts to increase awareness among both faculty and students of Harvard's policies of academic integrity.
"The board's primary concern is for the education and personal growth of our undergraduates, both as individuals and as members of the Harvard community," Evelynn Hammonds, dean of Harvard College said in a statement.