<p>I do not think that there is an racial jealousy here (personally I was waiting to see if the subject of race would ever come up in this thread as no one has ever mentioned anything about her race in all of these pages). Since you raised the question, would you be defending her so vehemently or would still be as taken aback if she were of a different race?</p>
<p>If you read the thread -Family gets a Lesson in Admissions</p>
<p>Subject is middleclass caucasian kid . Blair Hornstein Upper middleclass cauccasian kid. Duke Lacrosse team Uppermiddle class caucasian kids. I hate to say it, but most of the bashing (especially on something that has been written about in the papers) that goes on either happens to middle class white kids or middle class african american kids ( the AA threads, where someoe cries they took my kids spot sort of thing).</p>
<p>There have been rants/bashing on threasds about AA, athletes, the Ivies (especially Harvard bashing) Katrina students at other schools, the wealthy and privileged and everything else in between. The one thing we can see here on CC- there is equal opportunity bashing ;)</p>
<p>I urge you all to remember this is the US…and that we as a culture are litigation happy. Perhaps the reason KV has not “admitted” to her sins in the way you would all like to demand is because somewhere in the food chain, from her agent thru to the bookstores, there is litigation pending.</p>
<p>Or perhaps she has just learned a very valuable lesson in life and has chosen to move on. And frankly, this is exactly what I’d expect an extremely intelligent, hard working young woman to do. What would she gain from apologizing to you or holding a press conference?</p>
<p>She doesn’t owe anyone here on CC anything, and for those that she does owe something, I suspect she’s done what she needs to do. And that includes H.</p>
<p>drb: If you get kicks out of pounding on 18 year olds, fine.</p>
<p>you still don’t have all the facts do you?</p>
<p>get a life.</p>
<p>and sybbie, yes.</p>
<p>and yes there have been bashing (your words) of many other things you describe. There is a difference between group attacks and personal attacks.</p>
<p>“She doesn’t owe anyone here on CC anything, and for those that she does owe something, I suspect she’s done what she needs to do. And that includes H.”</p>
<p>Kavvya does not owe CC anything, but people at CC are still free to discuss how Harvard is reacting to her less than honorable accomplishment while at the school. The plagiarism of Kavvya was no longer an issue in this thread, as the offense is a well established fact (sorry Simba.)</p>
<p>The essence of this thread was about the image sent by Harvard. If indeed, a decision was made to rescind the peer advising position of the plagiarist, we can expect the Crimson’s reporters–who have so far shown an uncanny ability to report the news regarding this sordid affair as correctly as objectively–to report that as well. </p>
<p>When it comes to Harvard, it is also a fact that we all have opinions. That is the price a school pays for being the most recognized name in education. Even when rankings do not seem to agree with the public opinion, we still expect the best from the best. </p>
<p>In this case, Harvard’s fig leaf defense fell quite short of the expectations, just as the creator of Opal Mehta did!</p>
<p>"“As a peer advisor, I just received the list of peer advisers from the Advising Programs Office. Kaavya is NOT on the list. Perhaps someone made an egregious error when they said that they saw her at a peer adviser meeting.”</p>
<p>xiggi…didn’t you start the thread with incomplete or false facts?</p>
<p>In Xiggi’s defense, the general sentiment on campus was that Kaavya was selected as a Peer Advising Fellow for this 2006-2007 academic year. It was also mentioned in The Harvard Crimson in early May that Kaavya was allegedly at our first training session.</p>
<p>However, with the new academic year (almost) in swing, the Advising Programs Office sent out the list of Peer Advising Fellows associated with each entryway so that we can plan entryway-wide in addition to dorm-wide events. I just looked over the Excel spreadsheet of approximately 190 fellows (including myself) and Kaavya is not on the list.</p>
<p>Simba, I did indeed start the thread by quoting the Crimson. On post 5, I added the link to the story as it was printed. Unless I missed, I did not see any stories that would have led anyone to believe the June story was false. Posting on CC does not exactly require verifying sources for accuracy and timeliness. Also, since this discussion was centered on Harvard’s decision to appoint her–or rescind her appointment–to a position, anyone with who could correct the error in the earlier report could have spoken up. </p>
<p>The issue that she is no longer listed as a peer advisor–or acting in the same capacity–does not change the facts described in the original story. FWIW, could we not consider that later events or decisions might have been prompted by the reactions to the June story? I think that it is a fair assessment that Harvard’s decision to imitate Pontius Pilatus was not applauded overwhelmingly, except for die-hard supporters of KV, or extremely forgiving and generous persons. </p>
<p>I’d like to believe that you just happen to be the latter.</p>
<p>Remember, Harvard never confirmed nor denied the allegations that she was a peer advising fellow. It seems to me that Harvard never appointed her in the first place. There are students here who have a striking resemblance to Kaavya, so students might have mistaken a person for her, as many tourists have done to a certain friend of mine who happens to be Indian-American. The Crimson articles only cite that “several attendees” saw Kaavya. That to me seems a bit bogus.</p>
<p>In the end, parents of incoming freshmen this year do not have to worry about Kaavya becoming their child’s peer advising fellow.</p>
<p>“I’d like to believe that you just happen to be the latter.”</p>
<p>Latter. And I also believe in giving people second chances, and not jump to conclusions without knowing everything…I guess that is the engineer in me.</p>
<p>Hell we have a president whose youthful indiscretions would make a wonderful book, and whose fabricated reasoning has killed thousands of Americans and Iraqis.</p>
<p>Copying couple of dozen paragraphs by an 18 year old in a chick lit novels is a small blip. But, pounding relentlessly on her reflects lot on the ways we think and treat others.</p>
<p>Simba, I also believe in giving people second chances, but reserve them for people who show a modicum of contrition for their actions. I also believe that the punishment should fit the crime, and in this case, except for the very justifiable embarassment and the cancellation of rewards obtained under false pretenses, there were none. </p>
<p>For the record, lifting a couple of dozens passages from other books, and insisting in denying the obvious is a bit more than a small blip. This said, I would have been with you in offering forgiveness and understanding, if I had seen the smallest indication that this person were in fact seeking it. All I saw was brash denial and the same misplaced arrogance that got her in trouble in the first place. </p>
<p>But again, you’re far more forgiving than I am.</p>
<p>I have been following all the Harvard Crimson articles from the beginning, and my interest is solely in the plagiarism issue. I write for a living, and maintain a Web site that has been plagiarized more than once. So any time someone steals a work of authorship, I get outraged by that, whether the thief is a Harvard professor or a Harvard undergraduate or some student at some lesser school. </p>
<p>I appreciate xjzayz keeping us updated with the latest information, in historical perspective. Young people like xjayz are the kind of people I think about when I wonder whether or not I should take my children to the Harvard information meetings in my town. </p>
<p>Best wishes to all of this year’s students at all of the colleges in America and abroad for having a successful academic year, above reproach for plagiarism.</p>
<p>Thank you, tokenadult. You should take your children! Who knows, Harvard might be a school they might want to call home for the next four years. </p>
<p>We’ve discussed the Kaavya case in our Expository Writing class as well as with our friends. The majority of us do believe that she plagiarized (it does not matter whether it was intentional or not - it is plagiarism, after all). </p>
<p>However, we did feel that the court of public opinion punished her enough and moreover, the fact that she’ll always be known as the “plagiarism girl” is punishment enough. She will have years ahead of her in terms of regaining her credibility/reputation as a hard-working and genuine person.</p>
<p>I never thought I would, but I’m begining to feel a little sorry for Blair Hornstine. Harvard turned her away for her plagiarism whereas Kaavya is allowed to stay.</p>
<p>according to wiki and Harvard mag, Kaavya Viswanathan got into columbia law school. if i ever need a good sleazy lawyer, I’d look for her. She may even become a first Minority Woman Prez, better than bush. I bet she can beat Bush’s daughters for a shot at President easily, she has the quality of the making of a lying lawyer and politician. </p>
<p>I wonder if she still has the $500,000 to pay ivy league law, Columbia Law School no less? her advances for the book she copied and strung together from many different sources</p>
<p>I wonder if she still receives royalties, I’ve got opal mehta book in 06. I counted 50 passages with very similar passages and paragraphs , with some from Hindi masterpieces, but those could be setup w. bad translation, I don’t think she’ bilingual eventhough born in India .</p>
<p>anyone wanna buy it? Ebay sells her novels for 2-3 hundred bucks! I’ll give you Kaavya’s novels for 100</p>
<p>I heard many Indians are unsupportive of viswanathan , good for them , even to them, Kaavya’s a disgrace for plagiarizing novels. I heard she wrote a second novel and turned it in as thesis</p>
<p>Columbia also has another author , stephen glass that did some plagiarizing. I sense another moral-less and ruthless lawyer and politician in the making. </p>
<p>LIttle Brown won’t even let me return Opal Mehta novel for a refund now, should I return it to McCafferty’s novels’ publisher?</p>