今天早晨打开邮箱，收到一封哈佛大学的本科生院长哈里斯给每一个哈佛大学的学生和家长的信。信的题头是：来自哈里斯院长的重要信函。
我把信翻译出来并把原信附在后面：
亲爱的学生们：
我今天写这封信给你们是因为学校里发生了一件非常令人不安的、有关学术诚信的事件。这件事牵涉到相当一部分的学生，我必须提醒你们每一个人关于维护学术诚信的基本责任和重申学校有关学术诚信的具体管理准则。
学校的校报《Harvard Gazette》对此事已有报道，今年春季班的部分学生在完成一份家庭开卷考试的答卷时可能存在违规的“合作”，甚至直接抄袭的违背学术诚信的严重错误行为。学校的事务管理委员会已就此事展开调查。今年夏季，校管理委员会对这个班的每一份答卷进行了仔细的分析和调查，发现这个班的250多个学生中几乎近一半的人分别以不同人数的小组形式，集体完成答卷或共享答案。
校管理委员会已经和那些答卷有问题的学生进行了接触。如果你还没有被询问，你的答卷不在被调查范围内。
在接下来的几周内，校事务管理委员会会和每一个答卷有问题的学生谈话，了解事实真相，确认是否有违规行为。目前委员会还没有就此事做出结论。
虽然学校还没有对此事做出正式结论，但我们认为这个事件所牵涉到的一些问题的严重性质需要引起全体师生的警惕和重视，有必要在全校的师生中开展一轮新的有关学术诚信的广泛讨论。作为第一步，我要求你们今天就把学校的《学生守则》中关于“作业合作须知”以及其它和学术诚信相关的条例仔细地学习一遍。如果有不明白的地方，请咨询你们的任课老师。
同样的，文理学院教工委员会的院长迈克 史密斯已经要求所有的教职员工仔细审查他们的教案，明确每一门课有关“合作作业”的规定，和学生们一起讨论“学术诚信”的意义，并一起努力贯彻执行。
我同时必须强调，仅仅了解和完善规则是远远不够的，我们必须共同努力建设一个诚信的文化、氛围、和社区，必须让每一个人明白，诚信是所有学习和发现的基础和根本。没有诚信，我们不可能取得任何有价值和意义的真正的成就。
因此，我们除了采取一系列的行政措施以外，还要利用哈佛独特的校园宿舍管理系统，和各校区和宿舍区的管理人员一起在全校区内开展一系列的有关学术诚信的对话。
如史密斯院长强调的，哈佛大学关于学术诚信的问题是极其严肃和认真的，因为学术诚信是我们教育的根本和宗旨。我们不可能，也永远不会姑息容忍学术造假。我本人和史密斯院长、福斯特校长、以及伊吾琳哈蒙斯院长一起，呼吁并希望我们作为哈佛人，能够以今天的事件为鉴，孕育一个学术真实和诚信的文化，用诚信来对待我们做的每一件事。
你们真诚的、
杰 哈里斯
本科生教育院长
读后感：
即便是象哈佛大学这样的世界著名学校里最优秀的学生也和所有普通人一样，有着投机取巧和不守规矩的本能。只要教育和纪律一放松，这些本能就会象传染病一样传播开来。因此，必须要有不断的教育、严格的管理和严厉的惩罚才能压制住人的动物的本能。
同时也钦佩哈佛大学的领导和教授不怕丢丑的勇气和捍卫诚信的决心。这么多的学生这么做我猜想也有教师没有把规则交代清楚的可能，问题可能没有这么严重。但哈佛大学却如此兴师动众，“小”题大作，可见哈佛大学对待“学术不诚信”的零容忍。这样的事要是发生在我们的学校里，我们会是什么反应？也许是小事一桩了。
原信：
Important message from Dean Harris
Dear Students,
I am writing to alert you to deeply disturbing allegations of academic dishonesty involving a significant number of Harvard College students, and to remind you of every student’s duty to embrace our ideals regarding, as well as the specific rules governing, academic integrity.
As detailed in this Harvard Gazette story, the College Administrative Board is currently reviewing allegations that students in one spring class may have committed acts of academic dishonesty, ranging from inappropriate collaboration to outright plagiarism, on a take-home final exam. This summer, a careful and comprehensive review by the Administrative Board of every exam from the class found that nearly half of the more than 250 enrolled students may have worked together in groups of varying size to develop and/or share answers.
Every student whose work is under review has already been contacted by the Administrative Board. If you have not been contacted by the Board, your work is not being reviewed by the Administrative Board.
In the coming weeks, the Administrative Board will meet with each student whose work is in question, seek to understand all the relevant facts, and determine whether any Faculty rules were violated. To date, the Board has come to no judgments.
Although no cases have been decided, this alarming set of allegations requires, in our view, a new campus-wide discussion among faculty, students, and administrators about academic honesty. As a first step, I ask you today to familiarize yourself with the Student Handbook rules - which were approved by the Faculty - regarding collaboration on assignments and all other rules pertaining to academic dishonesty. If you are uncertain how the rules apply in a specific situation, ask a member of the teaching staff.
Similarly, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith has asked faculty members to review their syllabi to ensure that the collaboration policies for their classes are clear, to discuss academic integrity with their students, and to work with each other to share best practices.
More is necessary, though, than simply knowing rules and refining practices. We must all work together to build a community that fully embraces the ethos of integrity that is the foundation of all learning and discovery. Without integrity, there can be no genuine achievement.
To that end, we will, among other measures, work with House Masters and Resident Deans to convene a series of conversations about academic integrity issues in the Houses, taking advantage of Harvard’s unique residential life system to promote House-level dialogue on a community-wide scale.
Harvard takes academic integrity very seriously because it goes to the heart of our educational mission, as Dean Smith has said. Academic dishonesty cannot and will not be tolerated. I join him, President Faust, and College Dean Evelynn Hammonds in hoping we can all use today’s news to foster a culture of honesty and integrity in everything we do as members of the Harvard community.
Sincerely yours,
Jay Harris
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies
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