How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and ... Got Accused of Plagiarism??

<p><a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512948%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=512948&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The Crimson broke the story today ... looks pretty bad from where I'm standing, either on her part or on the part of editors and researchers involved with the book.</p>

<p>Wow, it does look pretty bad for the Harvard student.</p>

<p>Oh my god. I really wanted to read that book but now I feel like it's my moral duty not to do so...</p>

<p>If the rumors are true, she should be stripped of her profits and they should go directly to the plagairee (sp).</p>

<p>Can Harvard kick her ass out if this turns into a big deal?</p>

<p>It seems to be an out-of-school problem, but you never know.</p>

<p>Harvard has kicked</a> out admitted students before over plagiarism. I would expect Harvard to do the same again. </p>

<p>This looks really bad. Copyright law protects expression, and in some of the quoted passages the expression is IDENTICAL. The rule against plagiarism is a rule against using other authors' works without giving them credit, and it sure looks like that line was crossed here.</p>

<p>If the case of the handicapped girl who plagiarized some judge's old writings is anything to go by, this should be no different.</p>

<p>They can't kick someone out for non-academic plagerism but you can be sure they will analyze all her submitted academic work. There is a high probability that she has cheated before.</p>

<p>I get the impression they CAN kick someone out for nonacademic plagiarism, based on the Blair Hornstine precedent. The conduct sure looks dishonest, and sure reflects disfavorably on Harvard, wouldn't you say?</p>

<p>well, they won't kick you out for plagiarism if you are a harvard professor ;)</p>

<p>A bit reminiscent of the Bob Dylan plagiarism flap from a couple of years ago (but he wasn't in school so they couldn't kick him out). </p>

<p><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/17/DD198580.DTL%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/17/DD198580.DTL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The difference with the Blair Hornstein incident is that she used that on her application for entry into Harvard and it therefore became relevant. </p>

<p>quoted from the crimson:</p>

<p>Neither Harvard College’s Administrative Board Guide for Students nor the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Student Handbook mention the ramifications of non-academic plagiarism. </p>

<p>"Our policies on plagiarism apply to work submitted to courses, so questions of academic dishonesty would not apply in cases of non-academic work,” Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 wrote in an e-mail on Sunday. “Nevertheless, we expect Harvard students to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty at all times.”</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nysun.com/article/12648%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nysun.com/article/12648&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Recent article on the aspiring Jane Austen now turned James Frey...</p>

<p>"It's a little tough to do this writing and also juggle classes and the homework," she said. "This is a big-time commitment. It's not like writing an essay for a class."</p>

<p>We can only hope that she isn't cheating on her essays for class.</p>

<p>"I was the one with the writing gene - and I've no idea where that came from."</p>

<p>Megan McCafferty, anybody?</p>

<p>I am a bit confused as well over how Blair Hornstine was kicked out over a high school newspaper editorial and Kaavya Viswanathan will be immune to any punishment by Harvard. It just seems inconsistent, although there is a point that Kaavya has not been discovered to be plagiarizing schoolwork. My guess is that the students at H may petition to have her expelled as they did Blair Hornstine.</p>

<p>Wonder if her book deal and selling movie rights (which she got while she was in HS) helped her get into Harvard and if that would be a consideration.</p>

<p>This is entirely hypothetical - but is there any chance that this isn't plagiarism? Given the millions of books in print, and the similarity of some writers' styles, is it possible that several such "striking similarities" could show up by chance?</p>

<p>The problem is that entire dialogues and details such as a glittery Playboy bunny tanktop, diet cokes from chains known for fatty desserts and some exchange with a platonic friend are far too close for comfort. Maybe she has a photographic memory but then she would have also remembered that those quotes were from another novel and to use them as her own would be like, plagiarism, OMG!</p>

<p>Why didn't anyone screen this novel before the book advance? Considering the circumstances surrounding its publication, that would have been a smart thing to do.</p>

<p>A hundred monkeys and a hundred typewriters...</p>

<p>Such similarities might happen once, but repeatedly and from the same source? Hardly.</p>

<p>I feel bad for this girl, actually. It sounds like she was caught up in a whirlwind of expectations and hype and she just buckled under the pressure.</p>

<p>The articles people everyone sees in school papers every couple months about a student or applicant getting caught plagiarizing are just the tip of the iceberg, it is pretty disturbing. If you think that it would be less of a problem at top places like Harvard and the Ivies, you'd be wrong.</p>

<p>As for feeling sorry for her, there is no way I feel sorry for her. I hope she gets seriously punished for this. She knew what was right and what was wrong, and she took the selfish route. I would definitely expect Harvard to take some action against her.</p>

<p>Before you all jump to condemn the girl for plagiarism, consider the fact that before publication, manuscripts pass through plenty of hands - they're altered by editors, researchers, people on the marketing end, etc. So don't rule out the possibility that this may not actually be the authors fault at all, but that these passages could've been slipped in by someone else. I'm not saying that's really what happened, but it's important to consider all of the facts before rushing to call for her expulsion/punishment/whatever.</p>