When you think “Ivy League,” you probably picture stone walls and iron gates, clean-cut students in oxford shirts, aged professors expounding the theories of Pavlov and Plato.  You hold this sacred society of the intellectually elite to a higher set of standards than those porch-poopin’ sorority girls in Ohio.  And rightly you should.  The Ivies exist to make the rest of us feel that much stupider.  They’re traditionally the most selective universities in the country, accepting only the best this world has to offer in the form of eighteen-year-old guys and girls.

I guess that explains why Brian Corman was accepted into Columbia University four years ago.

Clearly, the guy was an amazing student while at CU; after all, he graduated valedictorian of his class.  And as everyone who went to high school knows, what does the valedictorian do while wearing a funny square hat and a long robe?  No, I’m not referring to the first time Smarty McSmartypants got drunk.  I’m actually referring to graduation day and the epic, heartfelt, wisdom-filled speech that is delivered by the class’ Numero Uno.

To send off his fellow classmates and wish them well in the great beyond, Corman stole a slew of lines from comedian Patton Oswalt.  On the day Columbia was handing him his diploma, and over something as insignificant as a joke in a speech, he plagiarized.  Oh, Corman, say it ain’t so. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. We love a strong woman, so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like what is cheating!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Alright, since we spent last week debating what it means to cheat in a relationship, it only seems right to figure out what the other kind of cheating means – the kind that involves teachers. Everybody thinking dirty things about teachers, get your mind out of the gutter (for now). Seriously though, we’ve all read the school policies about cheating and plagarism, but at the same time, most of us have done something that we wouldn’t really want the school to know about. How guilty should we really feel? It’s time to duke it out!

There are some things we can pretty much all agree are cheating – copying a paper word for word (or Wikipedia *cough cough*), sneaking a peek at someone else’s test answers. But what if you take someone else’s info and reword it? Or if you take the ideas from another work and write it out your own way. Afterall, most scholars read other papers on their topics and get ideas from them that they craft into thier own work and that’s not considered cheating. True, scholars add things to the information they borrow, but if you do the same thing, then is it ok? And what if you don’t borrow much? What if it’s just one sentence? Or just a quote that you forgot to mark? According to most school regulations that could qualify as cheating – and get you kicked out. Read More »

The publishing industry has been rife with scandal in recent years. We’ve all been told how competitive the market is, but lately it seems like some writers will quite literally do anything — lie, cheat, or steal — in order to see their books in print.

Did I Type Life? I Meant Lie.

The phenomenon started with James Frey and his supposed memoir A Million Little Pieces. After getting all kinds of recognition, including the nod from Oprah, Frey’s book was discovered to be filled with lies.

But why would someone decide to write a bunch of lies? After a little more sleuthing, it came to light that Frey had originally pitched his book as fiction, but that it wouldn’t sell. In order to make the story more compelling — to editors as well as readers — Frey then repackaged it as nonfiction.

Fast forward to 2008, and here we are again — except this time, one fake memoir has become two. In late February, Misha Defonseca admitted that she lied about being Jewish, being a Holocaust survivor, and being raised by wolves. One week later, Margaret B. Jones, a.k.a. Margaret Seltzer, was outed by her sister when she tried to pass a fiction of foster care and gang activity off as her real childhood.

Jones’s book never made it to the stands, but Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years is another story. The book has circled the world in 18 different languages, and the author was once awarded $22.5 in damages when she took her publisher to court for breach of contract (!). To add insult to injury, the French have made a film about Misha’s remarkable LIFE, only to find out the F was in there by accident. Read More »

It seems that 2008 is shaping up rather dubiously as the year of the plagiarizer. Or rather, the accused plagiarizer, as many of the cases brought to light thus far have not been substantiated with any sort of real punishment. Obviously, all this dirty copying is going to be easier and easier to catch as new technology surfaces.

The most high profile cases of supposed plagiarism, are, of course, in politics, as both Democratic candidates have been brought to task for some of their rather heavy-handedly copied speeches. Hillary Clinton pointed the finger at her rival Barack Obama first, claiming that he had borrowed lines from Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick.

Obama shrugged these reports off at first and then fought back, responding that Clinton had stolen ideas from Obama himself, namely his trademark slogan, “Fired Up! Ready to Go!” Read More »

• Rare photos of Ms. Golightly are published 15 years after her death.

• So working out doesn’t get you off? It does now thanks to the Thigh-brator.

• Two Celebs, One Dress… Who wears it better?

• Johnny Depp is on the cover of the Rolling Stone.

• Avril Lavigne is a Plagiarist.

• ‘Love is a Birthday Party.’

• Madonna spends 10k a month on water.