"At least in the sciences, I don't think that copying problem sets is officially included as cheating," says another student.

Is Cheating at Harvard Different?

Educators and educational journals have lamented an 'epidemic' of cheating in recent years, citing surveys that claim astronomical numbers of students cheat in college.

Data from polls of universities nationwide indicate that the vast majority of students cheat--in one form or another--a lot more than most administrators would like to admit.

Is the same true of Harvard? Students and administrators here say no.

Harvard students are different, says one sophomore. "The reason it is different is because of the Harvard mentality," he says. "Everyone here wants to be a senator."

Other students agree that dealing with cases of outright cheating is not part of the Harvard experience.

The relatively low number of cheating incidences that go to the College authorities seem to confirm this. The Administrative Board, which handles all disciplinary actions, sees approximately a half-dozen cases each semester, according to senior tutors who sit on the board.

"Cheating does occur at Harvard," says Virginia L. Mackay-Smith '78, assistant dean for co-education and secretary of the Ad Board, "but it virtually always occurs in a context that needs to be taken into account."

Commonly, she says, it involves "people being sleep deprived or stressed to the point of having judgment so clouded that after the fact they look back at what they've done and are amazed and shocked."

Though the cases are few, the punishment is often sever. Cheating incidences that appear before the Ad Board almost always result in requirement to withdraw by the student, and usually result from "a real misunderstanding of what is required for scholarship," says Mackay-Smith.

How Do We Define Cheating?

While case that are reviewed by the Ad Board are usually involve clearly improper behavior, other examples are not so easy to define, students say.

One senior sociology concentrator explains," I could never truthfully answer a poll. I don't know if I have ever cheated. I am totally unaware of how Harvard defines it."

Students say they feel ill- equipped to determine whether the ways in which they studied at Harvard were within the limits of fair play.