The action which has been taken by the Administrative Board with regard to the punishment of men guilty of passing in written work which is not their own will be felt keenly by every student who has taken pride in the thought that there is an unusually high standard of manliness here at Harvard.

The Board, we are told, holds "that handing in by a student of work not his own is dishonorable and unworthy of a member of this University." So too do the students; perhaps not all of them at present, but certainly a good majority. Yet we believe the students will not as a rule approve of the punishment which is provided, namely, separation from the University. The disgrace which accompanies such treatment may mean the wrecking of a man's life. And considering the number of fellows who have committed this really dishonorable act who are not at heart truly dishonorable, we think the Administrative Board has assumed a pretty heavy responsibility.

But it is said that the evil must be crushed out and that every other means has failed. Has every other means been tried? Perhaps everything which the Board and the Faculty can do unaided has failed. Yet who can doubt that if every student who really believes in his more thoughtful moments that copying is not honest should do what he could to discourage it that it would have better effect than the present action of the Board is likely to have? We doubt if the Faculty has done all that it might to awaken men to a sense of their real duties in such cases. So long as the man who does not copy smiles pleasantly on his neighbor who does, no threats of separation from the University will kill out the practice.