8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 1, 1998
Soul of Maryland liberal arts college is challenged.
The Baltimore Sun
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -At St. John's College,
education is an act of faith. Faith in the desire
to learn and in the Great Books used to gain
such wisdom. Faith in the ability to accom-
plish this task on your own. And faith in a sys-
tem that puts its faith in students to do so.
The aims at this tiny liberal arts college
seem higher, purer than at most schools. Here,
knowledge is pursued for its own sake. Great
bodies of work are read in order to be poked,
prodded and torn apart; ideas that great
thinkers have expounded upon for thousands
of years are re-examined and turned upside
down. Finally, each student uses all those
semesters of learning to thoughtfully write,
present and defend a major piece of work dur-
ing their senior year.
It's a system that St. John's has taken pride
in for more than six decades, since the creation
of the school's revered New Program curricu-
lum established it as one of the most presti-
gious and quirkiest liberal arts schools in the
country.
Which explains why, more than a year since
one bright, well-thought-of student showed
how easily that system could be fooled, and
since others who learned of her deception
failed to report it, St. John's is still debating
what some have termed a "treasonous" act: the
plagiarism of a senior essay, an essay awarded
one of the school's top prizes.
With a new semester under way, school offi-
cials are adamant that their system remains
intact. But a school dedicated to tackling civi-
lization's great questions still seems confound-
ed by a few of its own: Why, at a school where
grades are not important (they aren't even
handed out); where there are no lectures, no
tests and no research papers; and where suc-
cess is determined by abstract and subjective
measurements based on participation and ana-
lytical ability, would anyone choose to cheat?
And what, if anything, should be done to pre-
vent its happening again?
Lynette Dowty might have gotten away with
it. But, like some fatally flawed character in
the Greek tragedies she'd studied, she proved
to be her own undoing.
She arrived at the Annapolis campus in the
fall of 1993, having come from her home in
Granite Bay, Calif., to attend St. John's.
Almost immediately she stood out among the
school's 400 students.
Physically striking, nearly 5-foot-10 with
long, wild red hair, she was bright, talented,
charming, slightly cynical.
"She wanted to project strong," said
Kamielle Shaffer, who got to know Lynette in
her junior year. "She enjoyed being noticed.
She liked being the center of attention."
Not an easy task at St. John's.
"This is an unusual place. It is not for every-
body, said William Braithwaite, a St. John's
tutor - there are no "professors" here - for
three years. "The students who choose to come
here are highly self-selective, creating a richness
of conversation going on here that cannot be imi-
tated at any college or university in the nation."
Students are drawn by the curriculum
known simply as the Program. Created in
1937, it is a unified, all-required curriculum
based on classic works of literature. All stu-
dents read the same books, in the same order.
There are no majors, no departments. Just
reading and oral and written debate.
It's the Program that attracts thousands of
applications every year despite tuition and fees
of about $27,000 per year.
For students, the payoff is an intimate edu-
cation with class sizes no larger than 20. These
18- to 22-year-olds will tell you, without
cracking a smile, that they are here to learn
important things from Homer, Plato,
Herodotus, Aristotle, Kant and Nietzsche.
It was in this environment that Dowty decid-
ed to commit academia's worst offense.
May 18, 1997 was commencement day for
the 90 seniors. Sitting with her classmates,
Kamielle Shaffer found herself crying.
On stage above her stood Dowty, smiling
and waving as she accepted the school's covet-
ed Senior Essay Prize.
"I was horrified. Enraged. Stunned. How
could anyone do this and get away with it?" said
Shaffer, a soft-spoken, 23-year-old woman. "I
was watching this huge wrong that's been done
and wondering, 'How do I deal with it?"'
What Shaffer and a handful of others in the
St. John's community were dealing with that
day was the rumor that Dowty's prize-winning
essay was a fraud. The rumor had been making
the rounds since April, when Dowty herself
had apparently confided in a friend.
That any student would choose to cheat was
hard to accept, let alone Dowty, who, by all
accounts, was more than capable of writing a
prize-winning essay.
Zoe Andriolo, who befriended Dowty when
they were first-year students said, "I always
knew her as an excellent writer. Everyone did."
When Dowty announced in September 1996
that she'd chosen "Moby Dick" as the subject for
her senior essay, few were surprised; Herman
Melville's tale was her favorite. She told friends
she had spent six weeks over the summer study-
ing the novel, even drafting the first pages of h@
essay. By the essay deadline at the end of
January, she had gone through several drafts
with her tutor.
That spring came the whispers about Dowty.
And then commencement day and the prize.
Despite her tears that day, Shaffer left school
without saying anything.
"Was it my right to say something?" she
asked. "I wasn't so sure then and I'm still not.
I left it all behind."
The whispers finally reached school offi-
cials the next winter, after tutor John Ver
learned of the Dowty rumor. St. John's quickly
launched an investigation. After two months, it
was determined that Dowty's essay was
"essentially identical" and "unmistakably
copied" from an essay by 1976 graduate David
E.R. Clement.
U
RUSH
Continued fromI
winter term,"
trate on adjusting to
Graham said.
college life,'
Page lA
said Shmel Graham,
Who and What is
ZS?
ZS Associates is a global management consulting
firm providing world-class expertise in sales
force management and marketing issues.
Will 1 Fit in?
ZS will beon campus recruiting:
Business Information Sciences
Software Developers
financial secretary of Delta Sigma
Theta.
Some BGA organizations also
require that perspective members main-
tain a certain grade point average as
well as postpone admission into the
group until sophomore year.
Even though some students might
think the rules are strict, Graham said
they are for the benefit of the potential
member.
"It gives applicants time to concen-
"It's an asset. They learn how to bud-
get time and can also look at other orga-
nizations. Sororities are not the only
way to get involved on campus," said
Graham, an LSA junior.
When the intake process does occur,
the rules are very different from the
Panhellenic rush regulations, which
insist that the candidates visit all 17
houses.
"We always encourage people to look
at other sororities and research the his-
tories to see what one fits their needs,"
Graham said. "But there is no formal
,1.
When Can 1 Meet ZS?
October 6
Job Fair'98
12 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Michigan Union
Are you ready
for the GRE?
The November 7th GRE is
the last time
to take the paper & pencil
exam until April 1999.
'THE
PRINCETON
REVIEW Call Today!
Space is limited!
-19
Courses begin
October 31' in:
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Birmingham
East Lansing
setting that if you visit this one, you
should visit others too."
LSA first-year student Ronda Tate
said she is interested in joining a soror-
ity next year to gain close friendships
and participate in activities that benefit
the community.
Tate said she appreciates the rule that
requires her to be of sophomore stand-
ing before entering sorority life.
Rush "would be too overwhelming,'
Tate said. "I think we should have to
wait. I wouldn't rush this year if I
could."
Another way the intake process in
culturally based sororities can differ
from the Panhellenic rush is in the way
members of the sororities interact with
potential members.
The intake process in Delta Tau
Lambda, a Latino/a-oriented sorority of
six members, encourages potential mem-
bers to attend group events after the first
informational meeting in the fall.
This is very different from Panhel
regulations, which require sororities to
not interact with members until the
completion of the rush process.
Alejandra Montes, president of Delta
Tau Lambda, said this interaction
allows potential members to get a sense
of the group's focus.
"It exposes them to what we really do;'
Montes said. "If they are still interested,
they can then become members in the
winter term after the interview process."
Lambda Phi Epsilon, an Asian-inter-
est based fraternity of 30 members,
won't be selecting new members t*
fall either.
"We have a lot of new brothers, and
we decided to strengthen those bonds
instead of having a rush process" said
Mike Fu, treasurer for the fraternity.
"We did have an informational meet-
ing though, and we are having events
now like barbecues in order to get to
know people," Fu said.
Joe Kim, an Engineering first-year
student, said he wants to join a fraterni-
ty to meet new people.
"I came with a group cf friends fro#
high school, but I wan. to expand my
network," Kim said.
Kim said the fact that the fraternity
he is interested in won't be taking new
members until winter term doesn't dis-
courage him.
"It's fine," Kim said. "I can use the
time to evaluate other fraternities at the
same time.
One of the few culturally based org*
nizations that is conducting rush activi-
ties at this time is the Asian sorority
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi.
Suki Kuang, public relations officer
for the group, said the chapter chose to
have fall rush because it is has proven to
be very effective.
"We have a winter rush too, but fall
rush is more successful because there
are a lot of incoming freshmen looking
for a place to belong," said Kuang, a6
LSA sophomore.
ZS Associates
www.zsassociates.com
e-mail: careers@zsassociates.com
USA:
Evanston, Illinois
Princeton, New Jersey
Menlo Park, California
Miami, Florida (Fall 1999)
Europe:
London, United Kingdom
Frankfurt, Germany
Paris, France
LS
I
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University of Michigan students are invited to meet
CSC Healthcare Group
at our company presentation and reception,
Monday, October 5, 1998
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THE HEALTHCARE GROUP OF COMPUiTER SCIENCES CORPORATION
(CSC) offers the remarkable resources and unparalleled
expertise of the country's largest full-service consulting and
information technology (IT) services company committed
exclusively to healthcare.
AS RECOGNIZED THOUGHT LEADERS in addressing strategic
and operational healthcare opportunities and challenges,
the management consultants at CSC Healthcare Group
(formerly APM Management Consultants) are committed
to leveraging their healthcare focus to provide clients with
a suite of solutions unmatched in the industry.
EXPERTS IN STRATEGY, operations, clinical resource manage-
ment, managed care and information systems operate from
offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia,
and Toronto.
AT CSC, we understand the power of multi-disciplinary
teams and the value they offer to our clients. We believe
in bringing together people from different disciplines, with
varied knowledge sets and experience into high performance
teams focused on the client's success. In doing so, we provide
direct client contact at every level of a consultant's career
path. This fosters information exchange and mutual support
and provides for an intensive learning opportunity.
CSC HEALTHCARE GROUP'S clients include many of the
nation's top insurance and pharmaceutical organizations
as well as many of the country's most respected hospital sys-
tems, academic medical centers, community hospitals, group
practices and industry associations. CSC Healthcare Group is
MBA and MPH Candidates:
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Michigan Union, Anderson Room
First Round Associate Interviews-Chicago Office
Friday, October 30, 1998
Final Round Associate Interviews-Chicago Office
Friday, November 13, 1998
Resume Deadline: October 9, 1998
Undergraduate Candidates:
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Michigan Union, Anderson Room
First Round Research Associate Interviews-Chicago Office
Friday, October 30, 1998
Final Round Research Associate Interviews-Chicago Office
Monday, November 23, 1998
Resume Deadline: October 9, 1998
CSC Healthcare Group encourages all University of
Michigan graduating seniors, MBA and MPH candidates to
submit a resume and cover letter (undergraduates should
also include copy of school transcript) to:
Karen Lack, Senior Recruiting Coordinator
225 West Washington Street, Suite 2700, Chicago IL 60606
Fax: 312.470.8781 e-mail: klack@cscmail.csc.com
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