Crime And Punishment

Two of my classmates were kicked out of school recently for cheating. As I understand it, one guy gave a softcopy of his assignment to a friend, who, prior to submission, made no changes to the document except to replace his friend's name with his own.

I told this story to a relative who asked me why the committee expelled the guy who actually did the work. I can only assume that the guy knew that his friend was going to cheat. But maybe not. In academia, the punishment rarely seems to fit the crime. . . . Remember the HBS 119? Add to this that we go to the Yale School of Management, which takes its emphasis on social and corporate responsibility more seriously than most, and the committee's actions are not that surprising.

All I really want to know is . . .

What were these guys thinking? I mean, it was one assignment out of many, worth an insignificant number of points (3, to be exact). To have spent so much money and devoted so much time to the pursuit of an MBA to throw it all away for ~1% of your grade in a class?!

But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that the shame and embarrassment they feel over this is likely to haunt them, resurfacing whenever they think of Yale, run into a former classmate, etc.

It's just sad.

P.S. While the school made no formal announcement, it wasted no time in removing them from the online facebook.