The Weekly Standard has a comprehensive essay up about our favorite high-school news item, Blair Hornstine. Author Jonathan Last is an unique position to comment - he attended Moorestown High School and so was able to provide an insider's viewpoint of the whole scandal. He attended the graduation. He talked to the parents who allegedly heard Louis Hornstine brag about manipulating the system. He synthesized a great many details into this fascinating wrapup of the whole saga. And he certainly uncovered some new facts, not previously noted in the press.
Best tidbits?
Blair's lawyer wasn't an expert on education law, but instead a man legendary in Jersey circles for defending mob kingpins. Two additional lawyers came on board when her plagiarism was discovered, in order to "play offense" with Harvard and make sure that her acceptance there was still valid. [Update: Hope they' weren't billing by the hour....]
Few people in Moorestown seem to believe that Blair had any sort of physical disability, at least one severe enough to prevent her from attending school. Blair's chirping statements to interviewers - you know, the ones about there being plenty of time in the day for her to do volunteer work and about how she always keeps busy to avoid boredom? - didn't help matters.
She received an A+ (value: 4.3) for gym, a class she never attended (she had a doctor's note excusing her from it), and her father wanted the grade removed. No, not because she didn't deserve it, but because her GPA was above 4.3 at the time, and this undeserved grade in gym would have drug her GPA downwards.
And, last but not least, Blair's father, New Jersey superior court judge Louis Hornstine, has accepted an adjunct teaching position at - where else? - Harvard. Guess this means that the online petition for Harvard to rescind Blair's acceptance was completely futile, eh? Harvard's not going to shut the gates on the daughter of one of their newest faculty members, now are they?
Posted by kswygert at June 28, 2003 07:04 AM