More than 60 Harvard students eyed for cheating

More than 60 students are being investigated on suspicion of cheating in a Harvard University introduction to computer science class, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The newspaper reported that about 10 percent of the 636 students enrolled in the class have been called before the school’s Honor Council to face charges of academic dishonesty last semester.

The Honor Council heard a total of 115 cases all of last year. The number of cases stemming from the computer science class has stretched the 30-member council to its limits, the paper reported.

The council is comprised of students, faculty and administrators that enforce Harvard’s Honor Code.

The nature of the cheating, and how the students ran afoul of the rules, was not disclosed

“We don’t comment on individual cases, we don’t comment on individual courses,” Brett Flehinger, Honor Council secretary and associate dean for academic integrity and student conduct, told the newspaper. Flehinger added, “If you’re an individual student going through this, the minute that a course is named or anything about that course comes out in The Crimson, you think they’re talking about you.”

The Honor Council has a range of punishments available for students it finds have committed academic integrity violations.

The penalties include probation and temporary withdrawal from the college, up to permanent dismissal.

The Honor Council was created in the wake of a 2012 cheating scandal in which approximately 125 students were implicated in relation to a take-home final exam for a course entitled: “Government 1310: Introduction to Congress.”