TANGLED IN IVY
What is it with Harvard students and silly examples of writing controversy? First it was Nick Sylvester. Now it's Kaavya Viswanathan.
Check out that story and this one, which goes more in-depth into the points of "comparison" between Viswanathan's and the two books by Megan McCafferty she's accused of plagiarizing. A few thoughts:
First of all, I know this "alleged" plagiarism but you look at these examples and you don't need to be a comp lit professor to ascertain that Viswanathan is looking mighty guilty right now. Let me put it another way, if this had been a class paper that I was grading, I would have failed the student immediately and do it with the full confidence that any academic review board would back me up. I mean, it'd be one thing if Viswanathan had ripped off the "story architecture" but these are basically entire lifts of paragraphs, sometimes verbatim, sometimes with the most minor of changes. What I want to know is this: don't they teach Harvard students smarter ways of ripping off other people's writing and ideas? Or at least, how to steal from better books?
On that note, what is even more astounding is that Viswanathan - or anyone - would want to plagiarize prose so banal to begin with. No offense to McCafferty but I'm pretty sure her two novels were not in the running for the Pulitzer. Viswanathan couldn't come up with anything better than this on her own: " “Sabrina was the brainy Angel. Yet another example of how every girl had to be one or the other: Pretty or smart."
Lastly, if it seems like people take undue joy in seeing the downfall of young, successful people, especially Harvard undergrads who get half-million book deals when they're 17...well, yeah, duh. I mean, I thought Nick Sylvester got overly reamed for what was really a minor offense but in this case, the violation is far more egregious and there's a lot more at stake, including a movie deal and second book. The fall will be swift and well-deserved. At least Viswanathan will be spared the indignity of being ass-whooped by Oprah on national television.
Speaking of Ivy League students, I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was reading this right. Apparently, Cornell students are feeling insecure over the fact that people forget that they're part of the Ivy. I quote (emphasis mine):
- "Their fear is being viewed as a country cousin to Harvard, Yale and Princeton, more like a Midwestern flagship state university than a core member of a prestigious club. "Because of when most people go to college, their identity becomes closely associated with the identity of their university," said Peter Cohl...Let the college's standing drop in publications that rank universities, he said, and "my value as a human being feels like it's dropping."
Provided, I attended a school with its own issues around elite status, but Berkeley folks tend to worry more about rising tuition rates and student diversity than whether U.S. News and World Report has a bearing on our self-esteem. Quotes like that and this one are probably harming Cornell's public image more than helping:
- "We deserve more respect," said Heather Grantham, a senior who is now co-chairwoman of the image committee. "I am glad I came here," she added, "and it saddens us if it's not properly marketed."
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