Lawrence R. Velvel, the dean of the University of Massachusetts Law School, lays the wood to Harvard over its handling of the recent plagiarism of Harvard professors Laurence Tribe and Charles Ogletree. The entire piece is hard-hitting academic criticism at its best, and here is a snippet to arouse your interest in reading the rest:

The continued silence of [Harvard] President Summers and Dean Kagan gives wings to what until recently has been only a slight suspicion. It promotes the idea that they are simply saying nothing — are lying low — in the hope that the story will simply disappear with time. They are, after all, old Washington hands. They cannot help but be familiar with the two-day-wonder nature of the media. They cannot fail to know, that is, that generally speaking the press jumps on a story for one or two days and then forgets about it as reporters and anchormen turn to and jump on other stories. They know that the febrile minds of the press, minds based not on principle but on sensationalism and the new new thing, are usually unable to stick with something for longer than 48 hours.
So our flagship university, like the rest of American society, which it purports to lead by example, appears to be condoning dishonesty instead of punishing it in clear, public and no uncertain terms. Bravo President Summers. Bravo Dean Kagan. Your failure to act accords with the dishonesty that is rampant in society today. And the actions of a flagship should accord with those of the society it leads, shouldn?t they?

Care to respond, Harvard?