Creating Fiction In A Non-Fiction World

With Three Cups Of Tea author Greg Mortenson facing lawsuits from the disgruntled, you'd think that those who say they've composed non-fiction wouldn't continue to pretend that their fiction is all real when it isn't.

The latest author to fall is the University of Illinois' law school assistant Dean of Admissions. Paul Pless has been placed on leave, for publishing a fictional account of events that were supposed to be utterly factual.

Maybe this is more of a case of false advertising, but still, it's writing fiction and claiming it's non-fiction.

The law school wants all who consider to believe that the students admitted to U of I are nothing short of brilliant. The smartest. The brightest. The highest test score achieving.

You see, the higher the average GPA and LSAT score, the higher the school is ranked by important organizations. The higher the rank, the more competitive and smart people will apply. The smarter the incoming class, the higher the average, which leads to a higher school ranking, and around it goes.

So it needed to be. So it was written.

An assessment of those numbers resulted in an abrupt change to the school's website. The purported falsification of grade point average and test scores in a profile of the incoming class may have been made up (fiction) and presented as fact (Three Cups Of Fraud).

Oddly enough, it was Mr. Pless who took exception to the previous policy (until the Chicago Tribune exposed the scandal) in which politically connected but otherwise unqualified applicants were admitted to the University of Illinois law school.

Why, sticking those miserable GPAs and bottom-dwelling LSAT scores into the class average would bring down the average and make the U of I law school look like it was desperate for students and that's not the stuff of which prestigious institutions are made.

Now it's Mr. Pless who's being blamed for fictionalizing the incoming class averages, boosting the numbers as if politically connected but otherwise unqualified applicants are still being admitted, and he's not going to stand by and let them besmirch the reputation of the U of I law school.

The school is investigating. They'll get back to the American Bar Association with the legitimate numbers as soon as possible.

Can't the U of I just claim author privilege or dramatic license? Is it a crime to pump up the narrative to make it more appealing, albeit less accurate?