Through the Looking Glass: Elites get shamed
Ivy Leagues on the bad list
By Sarah Delia, staff writer
Posted on December 7, 2006

When simple folk at non-Ivy League colleges hear the names of schools such as Princeton, Yale, Harvard or Columbia, we shake in our non-prep-schooled boots — for these students attending such renowned institutes must have worked their 4.0 bodies to the point of physical and mental exhaustion. Academic, social conduct and moral values are placed like a star on a Christmas tree, they are the most important aspects that make the university as distinguished as they are. But according to the Washington Post, honesty picked up its bags at Columbia, waved good-bye to its friends integrity and moral values along with its reputation to take an extended vacation from the university.

Students at Columbia, a school known throughout the world for producing some of the most successful journalists, has just reported a cheating scandal — in an ethics class. This course, “Critical Issues in Journalism,” is a required class that has an online final exam comprised of two essay questions that must be completed in 90 minutes.
It has been reported that one or more students witnessed cheating on this exam, and without giving names, told the university administration. A student at Columbia, Jack Gillum, 23, said the school will have a “badge of dishonor” and does not want the value of the degree he has to be deflated — especially when he’s paying $43,422 a year by himself for tuition.

Earlier in the year, blatant plagiarism was reported by Harvard University when Kaavya Viswanathan, an undergraduate student, had her book “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life,” published but quickly recalled for plagiarizing from more than one source and twice from the same author, Megan McCafferty. When asked in an interview on “The Today Show” with Katie Couric, Viswanathan never once apologized and merely brushed the similarities as “completely unintentional” and must have somehow “internalized” the ideas of McCafferty when reading her work. And perhaps we’re wrongfully accusing Ms. Viswanathan all together; maybe McCafferty is to blame for her super mind-reading powers that sneakily published five years prior to Viswanathan.

Viswanathan was never fully punished by Harvard, much to the dismay to the majority of the students and faculty, and her deceit and dishonor remains within the halls of and her name will forever correspond with the image of the university. As for the ethics class outrage at Columbia, the administration is still scratching their quickly thinning heads in worry, as there are no students coming forward with a scarlet “C” boldly branded on their foreheads or fellow students willing to point any fingers. When no one takes responsibility but there is a certain guilty party, what can be done? If the hardest part of attending a university is getting past admissions, why have the division of Ivy League and “regular” universities become so deep?

Society demands quality, not quantity, yet having the highest GPA, SAT or GRE scores will get us into a better school, land a more successful job and get that nice white picket fence we have always wanted. But if schools such as Harvard and Columbia that are supposed to set the standard for integrity and honor set it as low as cheating on an exam in an ethics class and where plagiarism goes unpunished, why are non-Ivy League schools looked down upon as educational institutes? Go on, Harvard, Yale or Columbia — plagiarize, cheat, put your name on anything with a writable surface and you will see the value of the word “ivy” diminish before your very eyes.

Sarah Delia is an English and art history major.