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Blair Hornstine, the N.J. senior who successfully sued her school to be the lone valedictorian on a discrimination complaint (she's been exempt from various required courses, like physical education, due to an immune deficiency), has reportedly had her acceptance to Harvard rescinded. According the Harvard Crimson, the decision was prompted by Hornstine's admission that she had plagiarized material for articles she contributed to her local paper, the Courier-Post, as well as the growing public sentiment that Hornstine did not deserve to go to Harvard, especially with a petition of over 2700 signatures calling for Harvard to drop her from the Class of 2007. And if the news is true, Gothamist says, thank God. Special needs aside, what any school is doing accepting a high profile plagiarist is beyond us. And if you're going to try to game the system, Hornstine, then everything is up for grabs.
Hornstine, who is now in the middle of a $2.7 million suit against her town for punitive and compensatory damages, apologized for the plagiarism, saying, "I am not a professional journalist. I was a 17-year-old with no experience in writing newspaper articles." Gothamist says bullshit. Gothamist went to high school over a decade ago, and even back then, teachers were extremely emphatic about the dangers of plagiarism. We find it extremely hard to believe that a young woman who was the valedictorian of her high school did not realize what plagiarism was. In fact, according to her high school's handbook (scroll to "Academic Dishonesty / Cheating"), Plagiarism, the failure to acknowledge the ideas of someone else, and submitting work that is not your own is considered cheating. It will not be tolerated in any school work. In a course requirement (i.e., junior English research paper), cheating will result in a failure for that course and may forfeit your right to enroll in the same course in summer school. Hornstine's school work is also being reviewed again, and her journalistic plagiarism will probably be used in the school's defense. Gothamist can understand why Hornstine has raised a lot of ill will from members of her community and others, as her position of privilege (educated, wealthy family) has afforded her the opportunity to challenge the school district.
Another beef we have, and it's not just about Hornstine, is the idea of beefing up the GPA with AP classes. While conceptually, yes, AP classes are more rigorous and demanding, but what if there's the bad AP teacher who doesn't push students while students taking the non-AP classes have the more challenging teacher (a scenario Gothamist is very familiar with from both sides)? Wouldn't that beg the question of weighting classes with the tough teachers more? And what about the students who don't have a classified disability that find it hard to do the work but still muster through it somehow? Perhaps it's about time colleges try to explain that while AP classes are fine and dandy, it's about the well-rounded application, versus the taking all hard classes. The cachet/perceived value of AP classes has diminished in our opinon as well - students can still take AP exams even if they aren't enrolled in AP classes.
New Jersey has always had some crazy physical education requirements, like gym everyday. At the district level, it could even mean letter grades. When Gothamist ended up cutting too much gym (a combination of not having a lunch period and fighting with upperclassmen), we'd have to write reports about sports activities.
Hornstine's father, a state superior court judge, Hornstine, and brother attended Harvard. Her spokesperson, Steven K. Kudatzky, is a Harvard graduate as well.
Examples of Hornstine's plagiarized work and the reactions of the authors of the work she borrowed from. One article Hornstine submitted as her own won an award, which surprised Steve LaMontagne, analyst at Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
The Metafilter thread on Blair Hornstine.
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i really hate this girl. it's a combination of the way she obviously tried to manipulate the system, and then wouldn't even show her fellow students the respect of allowing a student who had not cheated share the top spot at graduation.
i've tried to feel sympathy for her- to see her as the victim of her overly ambitious father or whatnot, but time and time again i come back to an image of Reese Witherspoon in election, doing anything to get ahead and succeeding in it at the expense of everyone else. at least this time that's not going to happen- i'd be surprised if any top-tier school would accept her after this plagarism stuff- and if i were in charge of the district, and fighting a law suit, i'd be opening up every paper she ever wrote and looking for more evidence.
the sad thing is that she's probably going to win some kind of settlement- and then go on to sue harvard- success along the lines of jayson blair. lie, cheat, steal, and then sue or sell your story. i fucking hate this country sometimes.
Her worst crime: the personal suit against the school district for more than 2 million in damages. If nothing else, she sure had a nice resume for an interview with Leona Helmsley.
Not only does this reek of Election, it also reminded me of Citizen Ruth, wondering if Blair Hornstine is a pawn for the disability cause. I just think it's a shame that she's such a crappy symbol for it, plagiarist and all. Can the other students sue for being well enough to be forced at school? I don't know enough about the case, the law, or various disabilities, but this is ripe for debate. And there was a Law & Order episode about this or there will be one.
I think Hornstine should settle this case out of court - the school district could go to town on her with her admitted journalistic fraud. Her arguments are so assy, claiming she didn't think newspapers needed attribution since there's no space for footnotes. I hate people.
If she had an immune deficiency and was not able to attend many classes at HS for two years and had home tutors instead, how was she expecting to attend classes and live in a dorm at Harvard?
there's *way* too much emphasis these days on these "name brand" schools as some kind of magic bullet for future success. 15 years ago when i was applying to college, my school didn't even have AP classes! and i still got into harvard. i wonder if that would happen today--i doubt students from a back-country school like mine would have a chance among all the bells and whistles and lawsuits that characterize today's hypercompetitive academic climate.
this reminds me of another legal case that made my skin crawl--kid screws around, teacher fails her, she doesn't graduate. her parents, instead of taking the kid to task, sue the school. in order to appease parents, *school asks the teacher to resign*. the institutions (cf, nytimes) are often (necessarily, even) colluding in the cycle you mention, either actively or through lack of proper oversight. the teacher fought back and won--but the result has been deleterious for schools--everyone walking on eggshells, afraid even to give kids appropriate grades for shitty work lest their parents launch a barrage of lawyers into the breach. and my sister, one of the fearless few handing out Fs and Ds (her kids aren't exactly on the AP track), has has threats and warnings leveled at her.
all these parents are teaching their kids is how to pass the buck. we need a serious renaissance of personal responsibility in this country. alas, the likelihood of that happening seems laughably remote. in the meantime, i'm actually starting to worry aboout what these kids are going to grow into.
I hope she dies. Like soon.
what an evil bitch. even that smile in the yearbook photo looks fake.
I few months ago I talked to a kid who was a senior at this school-- the way he described it, she couldn't deal with *sharing* the valedictorian title with some one else. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? I guess it all works out in the end, though. If she hadn't made such a mofo fuss, perhaps Harvard wouldn't have checked into her so deeply and she'd still be in the class of 07.
Next time I see Hornstine at the mall, I'm going to nail her in the back of her head with a Cinnabon.
her huge forehead scares me.
I have nothing good to say in defense of Blair Hornstine. I
But the "claiming a learning disability in order to get ahead" schtick is not all that new. I know that a strain of that syndrome was found in my high school, with students getting declared "learning disabled" in order to be able to take standardized tests without the time pressure or otherwise try to get whatever miniscule advantage they felt they needed in order to get ahead. Aside from being incredibly dishonest, the problem with such a reprehensible practice is that it trivializes the impact of actual learning disabilities, so that students who are learning disabled don't get the help they need in school.
As far as the lawsuit, Hornstine got exactly what she deserved. Yes, she was named sole valedictorian, but lost the respect of her classmates and the college she hoped to attend. Seems to me to be the appropriate exchange.
she's disgusting. when i graduated from high school, there were five of us with straight As. When only three of us were named co-valedictorian, no one sued--in fact, the three of us demanded to know why the others weren't included--evidently some of us had taken honors classes with weighted grades which technically pushed our GPAs higher than those who had not. we felt that was unfair and asked that the two others be honored as valedictorians as well--it was hardly their fault, we felt, that their junior high schools didn't offer geometry or whatever, and that they therefore would not have been able to take the honors classes even if they wanted to. maybe that was out of the ordinary, but it shouldn't be.
The problem is that when there's a hole in the system, people will do anything to exploit it. I think most of us are guilty of doing that. But to take this all the way...I don't know - the Hornstine was most likely already accepted at Harvard before the valedictorian decision was made (I might be wrong of course), so I have to wonder about this girl's pride. It's kind of crazy to me. It's very ungenerous.
And whenever I hear about chronic fatigue, I think about the Golden Girls episode where Dorothy is relieved there is a disease for her strange malady. She gives this really overblown ("very special") tell-off speech to the first doctor who dismissed her as being a loony.
She didn't even show up to deliver the valedictory address she sued to have sole rights to.
gross. i hope she understands that if she receives her "punitive" damages from the public school district, other kids will likely go without certain materials and extra-curricular programs. way to "work in the community", horstine. she's a shameless comer. i'm sure she'll be incredibly successful and totally miserable.
Time to start the Hornstine petition demanding that she return all the money to the school district.
Have fun a Farleigh Dickinson University, creep.
seriously- does anyone have any follow up on this story? i'd like to know exactly what she's going to do for school. and whether or not she has yet sunk into a catatonic depression.
This girl makes me physically ill. At my high school graduation, we had 3 co-valedictorians, and there was quite a row among the student body that two of them (twin girls whose only after school activity, other than studying, was tennis) were allowed to stand with Jeff, who not only had the same GPA, same number of AP classes, but was also class treasurer for three years, school treasurer for a year, knowledge bowl team captain, cross-country runner, softball player, chess team captain, stage crew member, and student-teacher association rep. If anyone ever should have stood alone as valedictorian, it was he, and we the students took the case to the school.
But Jeff insisted the twins keep their title, as the rules were based only on GPA, not on after-school activities, not to mention moving them down to salutatorian and thus denying another student the award they deserved.
Jeff has since graduated from Princeton with all the honors one would expect, but more importantly, he gained the respect of his peers and his community, something that all the lawsuits in the world will never give Hornstine.
There was a great story about this last month in The Weekly Standard, by Jonathan Last, who is from Moorestown. He knows people in the town and interviewed them for the article. Best paragraph:
"I think that the view is there is not a genuine disability," explains a parent from the community. "And if there is any disability, it was inflicted by the father. . . . I think most people's view is that this man put so much pressure on his daughter to be perfect that she literally is a nervous basket case." One of Blair's former friends expressed similar sentiments to the Crimson: "From what I've seen and heard, I don't believe she has a disability that really prohibits her from going to school," said Allie McGuigan. "And I'm not sure whether it's all her, or whether it's her father. Knowing her and knowing her father, I think he owns this situation as much as she does."
The article can be found here.
Thank you, Gothamist. I missed this story completely (preparing for [Hurricane??] Claudette) and your digest was perfect. Plus, I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments.
- Mase
She is not going to need that Harvard degree. Downing street is on the phone to the weasel right now - seems they need more good plagiarizers in UK intelligence.
So, will $2.7 million make her feel better about herself, especially when $2.7 million could go to better causes in the education system. Well, since her name is well known now, maybe she'll need the money when no one will hire her...anyone have that update yet?
When I was a frosh in high school, the senior class had 16 co-valedictorians and the rule was the one with the best speech got to speak at the ceremony(senior teachers picked the best one). I thought, wow, what a smart class and how proud they should be of one another. And when my senior year came, we had 12 co-valedictorians who shared the title and no one complained about one another and we all thought they deserved it. She is clearly ungrateful. This bitch will get what's coming for her as someone said early, loss of respect in her community.
it is not that unusual for harvard to rescind acceptances... one year they rescinded the admission of a guy who had done amazingly well at a highly competitive high school who blew off his last semester (still graduated number 2)...
seems more than fair if you ask me
What scares me more is that her father is a New Jersey Superior Court Judge. It is families like these who give US law the horrible reputation it has.
Words of Wisdom: "It never hurts to try -- you never know what you'll win and what you won't," says Blair. "And work your hardest so you can have something to apply for!"
How I Get It All Done: "There's plenty of time in the day!"
My Motivation To Do What I Do: "My parents always told my brother and I it's important to give back to the community, and help others who are less fortunate than we are."
Screw the Cinnabon, I wanna take a swing at Hornstine's kneecaps with a crow bar.
It gets worse, she was a torch bearer at the 2002 Olympics and travelled to China.
* State Chairperson for a Smile-A-Thon that funded cleft lip and palate surgeries for orphans in China. "It was one of the most amazing things I've ever done," she says. "I never thought I'd be able to go to China!"
* An Olympic Torchbearer in 2002. "I was so excited, I could barely sleep!"
Wow, everyone hates her so much!!!! Such anger!! Maybe we should give her another chance...... Just kidding I hate her too!
It's such a shame. She's clearly unattractive enough to be Harvard material.
do any of you notice that hornstein really loves to use exclamation points?!! does that seem like evidence of a personality disorder?!! like someone who is taking way too many uppers?!!
Doesn't being a torch bearer at the olympics require at least the equivalent physical exertion as attending PE class or going to school? Her 'disability' excuse seems very flimsy.
I appreciate the earlier posts about her father. He may very well be pushing her to an unbelievable degree. She should run away from home and just let loose - a good degree is overrated anyway. Become a better, wiser person and you can achieve more than if you are a pretentious, spoiled, litigous overachiever who alienates entire communities in one fell swoop.
Anyone note the striking Blair connection? Jayson BLAIR Hornstine?
What would Natalie, Tootie and Mrs. Garrett say were they to deal with such a Blair...
Tootie Ramsey: There's going to be trouble...
Natalie Green: Who wants to be a skinny pencil? I'm happy being a magic marker!
She sounds like such a fake in that Discover contest thing - "My parents always told my brother and I it's important to give back to the community, and help others who are less fortunate than we are."
It's totally Tracy Flick, like i's dotted with hearts.
I hope some zealous reporter is tracking down Hornstine's former tutors and teachers. A pissed off public needs to know: Does our little "special needs" student swallow?
okay... can we just pause for a moment on the New Jersey gym class situation. Can we remember back to the hell that was the "Presidential Fitness Awards" ... Why did we have to do the Standing Broad Jump? Why were we forced to hang from a bar and be timed in front of the whole class? By the time high school rolled around I couldln't take it anymore. Four years of first period gym nearly killed me. Hair issues aside, it wasn't like you could actually shower in the five minute time between class. Plus, how were you supposed to look good for your 4th period crush when your hair was completely frizzed by 9am. I eventually took to writing rather elaborate notes to my psychotic gym teacher that said things like 'please excuse Kristen from gym today, her bullet wound is acting up....' He began to enjoy my missives and combined with the fact that my brother (thank God) was a star wrestler on his varsity team ... enabled me to pass gym with A's... Was I cheating, yes. Did I sue my school, no.
I realize I just completely digressed. I hate the Blair chick as well but my eyes exploded at the mention of gym class.
Plagirism, million $ lawsuits, Jersey highschools, Ivy League Universities, gym class, special needs, airs of self-entitlement... this story has all the makings of headline news.
If only there were biracial or homosexual angles that could be blown totally out of proportion.
Howell, you make a wonderful point. Not much more needs to be said.
She turned me into a newt, I got better though.
I am going to resort to a 3rd grade level and ask everyone to look at the size of this chick forehead!!!
Peep this choice "Blair Hornstine" anagram: BORN LIAR 'N SHITE.
So...?
...if she floats...then...she must be...a...a...witch!
As to the gym thing and chronic fatigue, she took two years of gym, getting an A and an A+. The A+ (4.3) would have averaged down her AP classes (5.3). A doctor's note waived her at the last minute. (This is either from the Weekly Standard or the Newark Star Ledger, or both, as a repurposed article, don't have it before me, but I don't want to be accused of plagiarism.)
Who is this doctor? Isn't that grounds for malpractice?
When I went to high school in the mid 80s, we didn't have AP classes, the best GPA possible was a 4.0, and you went out for extra curriculars because they were fun or because you had a crush on a cute girl in the drama club. How is it that in the past 20 years, we've managed to suck all the fun and joy out of high school and replace it with SAT cram courses, metal detectors, and lawsuits?
Huh. I never had fun in high school. Probably comes of having gone to an all-boys Catholic high school.
Blair Hornstine's behavior has become completely typical of college students. She just happened to get caught because she was in the public eye. Make a quick comparison of these two sites:
http://sanjoaquingreens.org/Young%20Environmentalist.htm
http://www.slothclub.org/pages/activity/japan/sevtour/sevbiography.htm
The supposed author of the first site, which is openly plagiarized from the second one, earned a full International Baccalaureate in high school and is in her college's honors program. They think it's standard procedure to pad your resume with other people's work.
If the school thought she was gaming the system, the board shouldn't have approved her courses. And there are some schools that always have co-valedictorians, but in this case the change obviously was made to target her -- because it was decided that what the school approved earlier suddenly wasn't fair. That doesn't make her actions any prettier, but frankly the school and school board don't have anything to be proud about either.
pathetic - Blair must now be experiencing a living hell which she, unfortunately deserves - along with her father. My daughter and her non-plagerizing friends at Harvard are ecstatic that she won't be joining them. But with her 'disability', how could she have handled the cold Boston winters and made it back and forth to class everyday anyway?
Even though we really shouldn't hate... This is an exception. That evil bitch. Hope she falls into a frozen river and is forgotten for all time.
It is understandable (to an extent) why she did all of this. But then again I don't agree on her excessive abuse of the system loopholes. Going to a boarding school I perfectly understand the traumas of a competitive high school life. This doesn't mean you need to plagarize and sue your school.
She's going to get knifed. I know it.
i am shocked that nobody noticed this little gem in the studentrewards profile:
-- Founder of the Tri-County Prom Dress Drive, which collects more than 200 dresses a year for girls from low-income families.
"taffeta for the poor, miss?"
can we please move her off the featured bloc? so very tired of looking at her smirky little face.
Blair is the winner and champion of all disabled, intelligent and pretty girls.
Most of you are a bunch of jealous twits that don't have anything better to do than criticize someone who is better looking, smarter and an all around great girl.
Hope she wins lots of money and they make a movie about her. You will all be played by Paul Rubens.
Get a life, all you losers.
Blair is a loser and the champion of all fake-disabled, giant-mouthed, rich, spoiled daddy's girls everywhere. You are an idiot- I don't care if you are the president of the debate team- no way you can argue me into admitting she's good looking.
Yep, Blair is a loser and is pretty darn ugly to boot. Have a great life honey now that no one likes you.