Let me give an example. The Board has spent quite a bit of time in the last few years discussing the phenomena of plagiarism and what it calls "misuse of sources." The Board has wanted to be certain that it clearly distinguishes between two different types of situations. There are cases where deception has occurred, that is, where a student has submitted work in a manner such that an instructor in a course might reasonably have assumed that it was the student's own when in fact it was not. In other situations a student has simply failed to follow the rules of citation properly but it is possible to discern what is the student's work and what is the work of others. As a result of these conversations, the Board has sought to make certain that every student in the College has access to all the necessary understandings about citation and the use of sources so that misunderstanding does not occur. It works closely in this effort with the Freshman Dean's Office and the Director of Expositiory Writing because it believes that these issues should be addressed and resolved in the freshman year.

Make-Up Exams

Sometimes the Board's conversations can lead to changes in College rules. Discussions which the Board undertook several years ago about what was then a rapidly rising number of medical make-ups is a case in point. The Board was concerned, as were a number of other Faculty members, about the increasing number of make-ups. It doubted that the number of students coming down with a serious illness during examination period was increasing as rapidly as were the number of make-ups. After discussions with the Faculty Council and CUE, it was decided to place a special notation on every grade recorded on a transcript after an extension of time or make-up granted by the Board. The Board also sought to make certain that all officials in the Health Services who had responsibility for signing medical make-up forms were aware of the significant adverse educational effects which could result from granting such extensions so that he would be able to talk usefully with students requesting extensions. The effect of these deliberations, coupled with other factors the Board cannot measure such as an increasing concern on the part of many students about admission to graduate and professional school, has led to a decline in recent years in the number of make-ups.

Consistency over Years

One of the most remarkable things about the Board is that, in spite of all the changes that have occurred and continue to occur in its structure, and in spite of the changing perceptions of the Board and attitudes toward the appropriateness of exceptions to rules, the enforcement of discipline, etc., the actual work of the Board has remained very consistent over the decades. The Board has always been, from its outset, a group of Faculty members and senior College administrators which strives to understand the circumstances of individual students so as to make, where necessary, those decisions most calculated to help a student to receive a degree from Harvard satisfactorily and efficiently. Only very rarely, and even then only after repeated and convincing evidence of failure, does the Board conclude that a student is best advised to seek completion of his or her College education at another institution.

The College's underlying assumption, on which the Board operates, is as follows. Once a student has been admitted by the Admissions Committee, all of the officers of the College, including the members of the Administrative Board, have a responsibility to seek to assist that student to graduate. Occasionally it is helpful to ask a student to leave the college for a while, if that student is experiencing successive academic failure or difficulty living within the College's rules of behavior. Most often, however, a far more minor adjustment in a student's circumstances is all that is required to guide the student toward successful degree completion. Whether the circumstances be grave or trivial, however, the Board's purpose remains the same--to assist every student who comes before it to obtain and to gain from a Harvard education.

John B. Fox Jr. '99, dean of the College prepared this article last week in response to a list of questions The Crimson submitted to him concerning the Administrative Board. Fax has served as chairman of the Ad Board since 1976 and been a member since 1970.

The Crimson Forum normally appears on Monday.