COLLEGE SHORTS

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Author, Harvard student accused of plagiarism

On Wednesday, April 24, Harvard sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan responded to accusations that she had plagiarized selections of her newly released book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life," by acknowledging that she had borrowed language from books written by author Megan McCafferty and claiming that her actions were "unintentional and unconscious." Little, Brown Publishing paid Viswanathan a reported $500,000 for a two book deal. In an e-mail message to The New York Times on Wednesday, Viswanathan explained that she was a "huge fan" of McCafferty's books "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings" and that they "spoke to me in a way few other books did." She added that "I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words."

Both books follow adolescent girls in their quests to get into Ivy League colleges. There are several descriptive paragraphs and dialogues in "Opal" that share incredibly similar language and sentence structure. The Harvard Crimson cited 13 such instances but, in fact there are at least 29 passages that are of questionable parallel. It is unclear whether legal action will be taken against Viswanathan or whether Harvard will respond to this incident. Robert Mitchell, the director of communications for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, said that "Our policies apply to work submitted to courses. Nevertheless, we expect Harvard students to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty at all times."



Students set trends with racy nudey magazines

Did you think the swimsuit issue of Also magazine was racy? Try going to the University of Chicago, where the spring issue of the racy student magazine Vita Excolatur featured a spread entitled, "Hot Girls Reading Books." Scandalous magazines have become increasingly popular at such renowned schools as Harvard, Yale, Boston University, Vassar College and the University of Chicago. Squirm, at Vassar College, first featured someone in the nude in 1999. Yale hosts Sex Week and publishes a corresponding publication, Sex Week at Yale: The Magazine. H Bomb, at Harvard, is even sultrier than Vita Excolatur and Sex Week at Yale: The Magazine.

Boink, at Boston University, began with the collaboration of a student and a professional photographer, who has said that creating a publication such as Boink celebrates sex, rather than having it be seen as something taboo.

The one major difference in all the magazines is the role the school plays in the publication. Some schools, such as University of Chicago, support the magazine financially while taking precautions to ensure student privacy. At Vassar, Harvard and B.U., the administration and student government has taken a completely hands-off approach, offering no compensation or support.

While the publications are controversial no matter where they are, they are becoming more and more popular as a new means of student expression. Middkids, get ready…