Honor Code

You must have heard the news about Cambridge by now. "Half of Cambridge students admit cheating," blares the title of the article. An anonymous online poll found that 49% of undergraduates admitted to cheating, while only 5% had been caught. The best soundbite in the article:

“Sometimes, when I am really fed up, I Google the essay title, copy and throw everything on to a blank word document and jiggle the order a bit. They usually end up being the best essays.”

I guess it's true around the world, no matter which top university you go to - getting in is the easy part; after that, it's just, if not plain sailing, then definitely not as insurmountable a challenge as getting past the gates.

Cheating in any form, including plagiarism, is taken very seriously at Princeton. Upon matriculation, each student receives a copy of the Honor Code Constitution, which outlines, in excruciating detail, what constitutes cheating and plagiarizing. One can only be a student of good standing once (s)he signs and returns the honor code statement. Also, we were reminded about the Code at every exam that we took and every paper that we submitted, having had to write the statement 'I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination' on each paper. One lives in mortal fear of violating the Honor Code by accidentally neglecting to footnote and attribute everything to its original source. Some take it more seriously than others, but everyone has heard the dark rumours and half-confirmed stories about a friend of a friend of a friend getting thrown out or suspended for a year or more because of an Honor Code violation. Being suspended is, of course, taboo, but being suspended because of an Honor Code violation puts you in among the Untouchables.

Given Princeton's stringent approach to cheating and plagiarism, it's quite a surprise that the students at Cambridge apparently don't seem to understand exactly what plagiarism is. Copying and rearranging Google hits to pass for an essay is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. What sort of reputation is the university inviting for itself if half the students admit to cheating? Admittedly, it was an online poll and anyone could have said anything on it, making the results questionable at best. However, I've found that there's some truth to the saying that 'There is no smoke without a fire,' thus putting Cambridge's No. 2 ranking on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings this year in serious question. But honestly, how can anyone trust a ranking that places Princeton outside the top 5?