Voices
I
LAWRENCE
SCHALL
HUFFINGTON
09.09.12
Why We
Cheat
DON’T PRETEND TO have the answer to the age-old question
of why people cheat, but in light of the recent news coming
from the Emory University campus, located just a few miles
from my university, I’d like to at least weigh in. For about a decade a few individuals who were responsible for collecting and
reporting admissions data at Emory intentionally lied about
things like SAT scores and class rank.
These folks didn’t tell crazy lies; instead, they modestly inflated the numbers so that no one would be the wiser. U.S.
News and World Report has apparently indicated Emory’s ranking would not even have changed if accurate data had been
used, possibly the most interesting part of the whole story.
Emory is a terrific institution and President Jim Wagner,
whom I know reasonably well, is not only a great president,
but also a good person—thoughtful, ethical and kind—and he
ILLUSTRATION BY LINCOLN AGNEW
Dr. Lawrence
M. Schall is
President of
Oglethorpe
University in
Atlanta, GA.