Lenience For Plagiarism Unjust To Honest Applicants

To the editors:



Re: “A Tarnished Opal,” editorial, Apr. 27.

I am a parent who toured Harvard with my daughter. I remember exactly where I was standing when the guide told us that the freshman class included an author who was published at age 17 and is working on her second book. My heart froze, it took my breath away. A voice inside my head said “we don’t belong here—she cannot compete with these students.”

During the senior year my daughter served on the honor council and had to present evidence against her best friend. She did so, knowing that she would lose a young man who meant the world to her for five years of daily phone calls, instant messages and zany, ridiculous outings. He spent the night before the hearing apologizing to her for cheating; she begged him not to lie the next day and make things worse. He made another choice and she not only lost him, she had to change her group of friends because of his threats. Unknown to him, to this day, she asked the administration not to punish him when they uncovered his plot to frame her. They know her well, they trusted her judgment and reluctantly complied. My daughter didn’t want more negative notations on his record. She had hope for him and wanted him to have another chance.

That is character. That is honor. She is waitlisted.



BRIDGET ALLISON

Weddington, N.C.

May 3, 2006