<p>Thanks FountainSiren…it sounds a bit “legalistic” as an explanation, but I get it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…right?</p>
<p>Imitation Disinhibition Syndrome…</p>
<p>One would also have to wonder if the people responsible to shell out $500,000 actually read other books, or at a minimum books sharing an identical genre or theme. The financial backers of the publishing company must shudder at the management’s financial lack of responsibility, and, to a certain degree, their integrity. </p>
<p>As far as the “author”, there are no excuses. Rather than count her blessings for having the extreme luck to deal with very gullible editors/publishers who did not not catch the early signs of “borrowed” material, she simply compounded the problems by pushing plagiarism to new limits. Did she forget she was supposed to write a … novel or did she truly believe that an idea is novel if she stole it first? </p>
<p>Lastly, this also reflects on the unbelievable market appeal of the Harvard name and mystique. Would this book even exist if Opal had decided to apply to Michigan State or Connecticut College?</p>
<p>PS FountainSiren, the syndrome might apply to authors, not cheating wannabe-authors.</p>
<p>Certainly many authors have written on the same subject, but each puts their own twist on it. (ie Dan Brown - there are many books with the main premise) Just look at all the mystery writers - there is a formula they all use, but to take sections of another’s book, paraphrase it and not cite it is clear out-and-out plagiarism. No grey shades. No excuses such as IDS - PLEASE!!! It is time people took the consequences for their actions and stopped trying to find excuses. Isn’t there an Honor Code at Harvard? This student could read? No wonder so many kids think it’s OK to cheat in HS. If we keep making excuses for them, then we are at fault as much as they are. Sorry about the preaching, but as a HS teacher, this really rankles. You wouldn’t believe the grief I get when I catch someone red-handed! The parents never say my Johnny wouldn’t do it - just that Johnny shouldn’t be punished and go for the jugular with the teacher, hoping he/she will relent and drop it.</p>
<p>While I agree that this is a serious offense, I am not sure what Harvard’s position should be in this case. It was easy to rescind Blair Hornstine’s admission. In this case, the student is already at Harvard. And Harvard has dealt very leniently with members of its own faculty (law, nacht!) who have been accused of plagiarism in their professional writings. Here, the student is accused of plagiarizing, but not in the context of her academic writings. Should she be dealt with more severely than famous law profs?</p>
<p>Xiggi,</p>
<p>As long as “cheating-wannabe-authors” is not synonymous with “very nice girls who want to be authors and went to high-school in New Jersey”:)</p>
<p>like me. </p>
<p>These girls (Blair and her spawn) have given us good-girls a tough ride…thank god that amongst the Ivies they all seem to like Harvard so: like bees to honey.</p>
<p>Sounds like Little Brown may want to consider using software similar to turnitin.com.</p>
<p>I agree entirely with Marite. While I did make a jocular comment about New Jersey girls and Harvard -sorry FS- I do not see this as a Harvard issue at all. It is unfortunate that the school is dragged into another “scandal” in which they played no role. Further, we may also applaud that the issue of plagiarism was uncovered by Harvard’s students, and that fellow students had voiced earlier “concerns” at the risk of being accused of schadenfreude.</p>
<p>Actually, Xiggi, I see it as a Harvard issue insofar as the university is now in the uncomfortable position of having to deal with a student who has been shown to have plagiarized but not having done anything about its own faculty, except a bit of wrist-slapping. Should it deal more severely with a student who began the novel before even getting into Harvard than it has with its long-time faculty? I don’t have the answer to that. But it is something Harvard has to deal with.</p>
<p>Harvard would be within its rights to double-check the application essay. I’m sure Harvard will want to be sure it is original (or at least not from a previously-published source - one can’t be sure that anyone who uses a college groomer wrote the essay without help). Or, if the essay were plagiarized, it would be better for Harvard to be the one to uncover it. Harvard is, after all, the innocent party of this story.</p>
<p>As Marite noted above, Boston Globe picks up the story: <a href=“http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/04/24/harvard_author_faces_scrutiny/[/url]”>http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/04/24/harvard_author_faces_scrutiny/</a></p>
<p>Evitajr1’s question about the existence, or non-existence - of an honor code system at Harvard and guidelines for the students to read seems to me to strike at the heart of this matter. After all, we are all outraged because intellectual integrity is at issue here, both academic and personal.</p>
<p>At Princeton, there is a strict honor code and clear guidelines exist to define plagarism: <a href=“Student Guide to Academic Integrity | Office of the Dean of the College”>Student Guide to Academic Integrity | Office of the Dean of the College;
<p>It appears that Harvard does not have a formal honor code system in place but relies upon the good will, personal trust, and integrity of its students to live up to lofty ethical standards of what is right and wrong.<br>
<a href=“http://www.harvardindependent.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=8455[/url]”>http://www.harvardindependent.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=8455</a> </p>
<p>and <a href=“http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~salient/issues/960408/page6.html[/url]”>http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~salient/issues/960408/page6.html</a>. </p>
<p>Fortunately, most students are worthy of this trust, do find their moral map and don’t get lost along the way.</p>
<p>wow she deserves to get kicked out of harvard. few new authors are gonna start out with any good money, almost none start at $500000 for a first book. so this HIGH SCHOOL GIRL gets half a million dollars for her first book and she doesnt even take advantage of her great situation with out having to cheat at it. unbelievable. some people can have it all and refuse to take advantage of all of their advantages in life</p>
<p>According to today’s Washington Post, she didn’t cheat or plagarize but engaged in unconscious copying. The article also says that McCafferty said the similarities went beyond a few words and phrases but also included common characters and plot points. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.</p>
<p>The devil made her do it! Next, she will tell the world she wrote he novel with a ouija board.</p>
<p>“unconscious copying”? She wrote the paper while she was unconscious? I’ve generally been impressed with the highschoolers that Harvard attracts, but <em>holy cow</em>.</p>
<p>I don’t think this has been posted anywhere yet. It’s an article about RH pressing charges. </p>
<p>Story on Nightline right now.</p>
<p>Recently a Harvard Sophomore, Kavya Vishwanthan was criticised for copying similar passages from to books publuished by McCafferty and was made to publicly apologise. The book she wrote, “How Opal Mehta got kissed, got wild and Got a life” though had a different storyline.</p>
<p>Now what i ask is was this is a justifiable act?
I think it was justifiable becuase firstly, thestory was different. She looked upon McCafferty as an inspiration and thus having a similar writing style is perfectly acceptable. As fopr lifting of certain passage, 6 in all, tho some sources its as high as 30, is natural because she is a first time writer. She has an individual style but will obviously try to followr certtain things her idol did.</p>
<p>I think this issue was blown up by the media too much. Instead of nurturing creativity, its stifling it. </p>
<p>I would lik to hear what parents think about this issue, for I sincerely feel this could happen to anyone…</p>
<p>The NYT today has a column on education in which KV is likened to Barry Bonds.</p>
<p>I do not think she consciously plagiarised but I think there are a lot of questions about the whole thing–a $500,000 advance for a first movel by an unknown teenager is very high, so hwo did it come about? Chick lit is a prospering field, but this was essentialyl a niche novel as I understand it. Also, how much help did the packaging company give her (iindeed, could they have been the ones who borrowed the material?), and how much of a planned approach to college admissions was this whole novel anyway? </p>
<p>I saw the author on teh today show this morning and although she seemed genuinelely distressed I don’t actually think this could hapen to anyone. There is an extraordinary combination of privilege and the pwer that comes with it at work here. What really stifles creativity is knowing there is no market for your work, or not knowing how to find that market, and having to do other things to earn a living. This isn’t about creativity but about the integrity of a variety of processes.</p>