3 Feb 2013

Harvard students disciplined for cheating

5:15 am on 3 February 2013

Harvard University in the United States has disciplined dozens of students for cheating in a final exam.

"More than half" of 125 students under investigation were asked to leave for a period of time and others face probation.

An inquiry began when a tutor noticed identical answers to a take-home exam for an undergraduate politics course.

The Harvard Crimson said the review expanded to include nearly half the 279 students enrolled in the course.

In an email to members of the university, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael Smith said the cases had now been resolved.

"Somewhat more than half" of the cases resulted in a request to withdraw. Of the remaining cases, about half the students were placed on disciplinary probation and the rest were exonerated.

The dean added that an internal committee would put forward recommendations on how to promote honesty within the institution.

The BBC reports that some of those ensnared in the scandal were members of Harvard sports teams.

Two basketball co-captains have been dropped from the team. Earlier reports in the university newspaper suggested football, baseball and ice hockey players could also have been involved.