There is justice in the world.

[M_Six]

Remember the student in NJ who sued her school to be named the sole valedictorian (plus $2.4 million)? Well, she just got uninvited from Harvard for plagiarism. Now the school is checking her past work for plagiarism. If they find any, they'll fail her for those courses and take away her valedictorian title (and, coincidentally, the grounds for her lawsuit).



Just made my day!

Boston Globe

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

I read another article explaining her side of the story, and from what I read over there, she was in the right...
I remember her saying that she had no idea that the essay in question here required citing (it was some sort of special essay)... but honestly, do you think that a girl who has straight A's, perfect SAT scores, and an immune defficiency intentionnaly plagarise?
She is constantly being picked on by her class mates because she is a 'do-gooder' (who does nothing but community service) and the dad constantly begged the school board to stop students from picking on her (as it went to physical abuse in one case), when they failed to do so they filed a law-suit and won.

hahahahah take that you selfish girl!



boooooyyyahhhh!

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

I wouldn't call her selfish after reading her side of the story, I really sympathized with her. Ok, $2.4 million was a bit too much but her parents who asked for that, she probally had no input on the settlement amount.
As for the Co-Valedictorian, even her teachers agreed that she alone deserved the title as the other person in candidacy over her had significantly lower grades. Her parents think it was because of her infamy that they elected a co-valedictorian.

[M_Six]

I'd really like to see those articles, DaWg. Do you remember where you read them? Always good to get both sides of a story.

[cadetstimp]

If she's doing so well ... why does she need to be Validictorian? Why sue? What is there to gain, especially if she already had opportunities waiting at Harvard?

She may be a smart student, but she needs to pick the right battles to fight.

She could have been working more constructively on her future this whole time....Is Validictorian going to really be that important 5 years from now?

Wasted energy...

JMHO

I didn't read the link, so I'm going from memory....

By deciding to sue the school over their decision to name multiple Validictorians, she put the school in a position to defend themselves. Had she not been so selfish and wanted to be the only Validictorian for her class, the school probably never would have reviewed her work and found the work in question.

If some of the work she turned in to get those grades was not her own, then she deserves to be stripped of her title/co-title and should be "univited" from Harvard.

I agree. If she wanted the school to play by the rules and make her the sole valedictorian, then she too must play by the rules.

Pity though because what she did was not necessary- the lawsuit and the plagiarism.

She'd have still made it to Harvard.

Some people turn greedy, though.

[M_Six]

Here is, IMHO, a well-balanced look at the whole issue.

This is no longer a case of who is the valedictorian of Moorestown High School, but a case of who can best use and manipulate the system. The community and Kadri tried [and failed] to alter the system to accomodate multiple valedictorians, and Hornstine successfully worked the system to have her named the sole valedictorian. Whether or not she fought for her right as a disabled student or simply as an overachiever who wanted to be named number one is irrelevant. She and her lawyers did whatever it took within the letter of the law to remain number one. As many people have stated, there was another choice for her to take -- sharing the award. Given our society's thirst to have a winner and a loser, one might think that there is shame in sharing, but there is and should be none in this case. Both Kenneth and Blair could have easily shared the same stage as co-valedictorians. Yes, there might have been mutterings of disapproval from some members of the community that Hornstine didn't deserve it due to her accomodations, but those thoughts and utterances would have been kept private. Similarly, Hornstine might have told to her family that she really was number one. She might have indeed gone to Harvard still thinking that. Upon her first semester, of course, she would have quickly realized how useless -- shared or not -- the title of valedictorian is. There's always going to be someone smarter and more accomplished than you, Blair. The important point to take from this is that everything would have remained private... no national spotlight, no revealing of plagiarism, and no backlash from the media. Nothing would have happened had she decided to share the valedictorian award.

She had the choice to follow the spirit of the law, but chose the other path. For this, she must be held responsible and accountable for the life that follows. In my opinion, there is no community to blame, Mrs. Mirkin to blame, no Paul Kadri to blame, no disability to blame -- there is no one to blame but yourself. Face up to it and move on with your life, Blair.

That about sums up my feelings, too. I don't see that naming a co-valedictorian was discrimination against someone with a disability. I see it as fairness, or as fair as things like this can be. Her lawsuit was a stupid idea from a very intelligent person. The OUTRAGEOUS damages she's asking are the result of pure greed, whether hers or her lawyers'.

Exactly.

If she was unwilling to bend, why should anyone else?