(Note: This piece contains examples of bold-faced and unapologetic plagiarism. If that kind of thing bothers you, stop here.)

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. It appears, as of late, that higher education is one very unhappy family. What with scandals ranging from rape allegations at Duke, to hazers gone wild at Northwestern (and elsewhere, if photos posted on Facebook pages are to be believed) to plagiarism at ________________ (you fill in the blank). Then, there’s that poor fool at Boston University who made the fatal mistake of irking visiting faculty member (and crack investigative journalist) Renata Adler and allegedly lying about his publishing record to the student newspaper.

Yes, friends, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. At least that’s probably how Kaavya Viswanathan feels right now. The only worse thing that could happen to the Harvard undergraduate, who plagiarized parts of her debut novel, would be to have her name become a verb. “Oh no. I just got nailed for Viswanathaning.” Come to think of it, maybe having one’s name used as an adjective is even more hideous. “Young man, this kind of Viswanathanian writing may pass for undergraduate work at Harvard, but certainly not at the University of __________________” (you fill in the blank).

Welcome! The article you'd like to read is available to Adjunct Advocate subscribers, or to non-subscribers for purchase with AdjunctNation Passport credits. Your AdjunctNation Passport credit purchases compensate the writers directly!

If you like, visit our secure online store to purchase AdjunctNation Passport credits or subscribe. PLEASE NOTE: If you're already registered, you don't need to register again to read the article! You need to login, go to our secure online store, and purchase AdjunctNationCredits.