More than 125 Harvard University undergraduates are being investigated for plagiarism and other academic misconduct surrounding final examinations, according to Bloomberg News.
The incident is the "most wide-spread cheating scandal" known to rock Harvard, school officials told Bloomberg News.
All of the students were in a class of around 250 undergraduates. The group being accused will now face the Harvard Administrative board.
Officials said they discovered suspicious similarities while reading through the students' end-of-year take-home exams during the summer, according to Bloomberg News. If the students are proven guilty, they may have to withdraw from school for an academic year.
While schools officials have said they would not disclose the names of the students or the course they were taking, The Harvard Crimson is reporting that the class was Government 1310: "Introduction to Congress, in which 279 students were enrolled.
The Boston Globe has obtained a copy of the letter that Harvard's dean sent to students. We've excerpted a few key paragraphs. Read the full letter at The Boston Globe.
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.
...
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.
