On the flip side, most US universities simply turn a blind eye to blatant cheating, and actively punish professors for even reporting it. I don't know if Harvard is better or this case was simply too egregious.
I'm not sure how cheating is handled outside my university, but they take it very seriously in my CS major. If we're caught cheating on any assignment we generally fail the course and have a note placed in our academic file, and are potentially removed from the major.
I have seen it even worse in medical and dental school. And because there is little ability to replace the lost revenue from expelling a student the schools are typically lenient.
