To the Editor:

Re: “Cheated by the Code of Academic Integrity,” Opinion, Nov. 10

We served on the Academic Integrity Hearing Board of the College of Arts and Sciences for a combined four years. During that time, it was only a rare student, found guilty of cheating, who was “shaking uncontrollably “ or “sobbing hysterically,” as the author has characterized them.

Indeed, by the time a student was brought before the AIHB, he or she had had countless opportunities to set the record straight and apologize. For the most part, the students whose appeals we heard were conniving, impenitent and tenacious in their own defense.

There was the student who received a low grade on a test, took the exam home, changed his answers and submitted it for a re-grade — only to find that his professor had photocopied the original test. There was the student whose essay included an original introductory paragraph, and then a verbatim copy of a university professor’s journal article, bibliography included. There was the student who cheated without question on every exam for an entire semester, who pointed as evidence of her innocence to a miscopied punctuation mark.

If anyone suffered an injustice, it was the faculty. Time and time again, we saw professors — who are educators, and not disciplinarians — make every effort to settle disputes privately and fairly with students. But time and time again, remorseless students rejected these solutions, and concocted outrageous explanations for their actions.

If it so desired, Cornell could adopt an honor code, which would penalize even minor offenses with suspension or expulsion. That system might be more effective, but it would also be draconian.

As it stands now, even the most flagrant malefactor at Cornell is leniently punished. Slaps on the hand are commonplace, while suspension or expulsion — at least for first-time offenders — is unheard of. Contrary to the author’s assertion, the cases who come before the AIHB are not the equivalent of “jaywalkers and rapists”; they are “rapists” punished as “jaywalkers.” Unless the opposite is preferable, the student body should be thankful for the AIHB.

Rob Fishman ’08, former Sun columnist

Josh Harris ’08