The Review | Essay
By Clay Shirky November 3, 2025
When I arrived at college, late last century, I was herded into a room with my peers to be oriented. There we were, keyed up and finding it hard to focus as the dean gamely worked his way through the minutiae of our new lives at college. The entire event was eminently forgettable, as I can confirm because I have forgotten nearly all of it, with the exception of a single sentence.
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The Review | Essay
By Clay Shirky November 3, 2025
When I arrived at college, late last century, I was herded into a room with my peers to be oriented. There we were, keyed up and finding it hard to focus as the dean gamely worked his way through the minutiae of our new lives at college. The entire event was eminently forgettable, as I can confirm because I have forgotten nearly all of it, with the exception of a single sentence.
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Correction (Nov. 4, 2025, 12:20 p.m.): A previous version of this essay stated that Middlebury removed the ‘moral obligation’ for students to report honor-code violations. The essay has been updated to reflect that this proposal from students was voted down by the college’s faculty.
About the Author
Clay Shirky is vice provost for AI and technology in education at New York University.