Now that plagiarism is becoming a major story regarding Harvard, I might as well share some background regarding where I stand.

I was the student Vice President of my college for a year.

One of our duties was to serve on the board regarding student conduct.

At one point, a student was being evaluated for plagiarism. I needed to attend the evaluation and lay down my verdict.

The student did clearly plagiarize every word of his paper. The evidence was as clear and abundant as one could ask for.

What's more, this was a paper for an acting class that was worth 5% of his grade.

Still, I was the only person calling for him to be expelled.

In retrospect, I was probably supposed to be a voice for the student, and failed in that capacity -- I was young.

Still, first of all, every college that's worth going to (if there are any left), view plagiarism as one of the greatest violations of academic integrity and will expel violators.

What's, in this case, I was supportive of expelling the student because he was clearly a freaking moron and not motivated.

5% of your grade in an acting class? It's smarter to just take the zero. Why should we be taking over $10k a year from a kid who isn't going to function in the career that he's being trained for?

I lost. The kid got suspended for a semester. I don't know what happened after that. It wasn't my responsibility by the time he was supposed to be reinstated.

The thing is, if academia is supposed to maintain any credibility, and keep earning our money, plagiarism should be an immediate out.

No, you don't get your degree from this college that hundreds, or thousands, or hundreds of thousands of young people spend a ton of money to attend, if you're going to steal people's ideas and pass them off as your own. If academia is tolerant of that behavior, academia is even more useless than it has clearly become.