Face the Music

What is most disturbing about the unfortunate case of Undergraduate Council Vice Chair Maya G. Prabhu '94 is the sheer dishonesty involved. After weeks of emphatically denying any wrongdoing, she broke down before an investigative panel and admitted having fixed the election for social committee co-chairs.

This sort of offense is horrifying enough. But Prabhu continues to lie to the people--the Dunster House constituents who elected her and the full council which appointed her vice chair.

"All I'm saying...is that I made mistakes that night," Prabhu said last week after resigning her post. "I mismanaged the election and I'm taking responsibility for that. I'm not going to say anything more."

Prabhu has said that her resignation is for the good of the council. "It is clear," she said, "that my remaining on this council is an obstacle to its true objectives in guiding student policy and providing student services."

But Prabhu is serving no one but herself. She committed fraud, tried to cover it up and lied repeatedly to her colleagues and constituents.

Her resignation is not enough. She needs to come clean about her actions and her motives.

Meanwhile, Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 maintains that he will not bring Prabhu before the Administrative Board unless the council requests that he do so. While the council should make such a request, the Administrative Board should act on its own volition. If committing fraud and then lying about it is not "conduct unbecoming a Harvard student," we don't know what is.

Marc D. McKay '94, who originally leveled the charge of fraud against Prabhu, says he feels "vindicated" and will not press for the Ad Board to intervene. This is irrelevant. That McKay won't pursue the issue shouldn't matter: The Ad Board's function is to maintain certain standards of behavior in the Harvard community.

The Ad Board, in recent years, has prosecuted students for everything from shoddy footnoting to sadomasochism to making fake IDs. If it fails to hold an elected student official accountable for her betrayal of public trust, what kind of message does that send to students about the value of integrity?

By no means should this editorial be construed as knee-jerk council bashing. It is, in fact, imperative for the council that Prabhu come forward and own up to her actions. Only then will the council be able to put this sorry episode behind it.

Public officials must take responsibility for their actions. When they screw up, they should admit it. When they lie, they should face the consequences.