Twins, You See ....

"My mind was racing. I was sobbing and incredulous that this was happening to us."

"We knew the truth. We weren’t going to roll over and let our reputation be ruined. You take an entire lifetime to build a reputation."

"These mutterings and rumors came throughout campus about how we’d been academically dishonest."

"We’ve been living with this for six years and we’ve finally had everything restored to us."

Kayla, Bingham, identical twin, South Carolina

The twins went on to graduate from law school and now work at the same firm.

Facebook / Kellie Bingham

Identical twins share basic genetic material, they tend most often to appear as like mirror images of one another. Their likenesses extend, however, beyond their clear physical resemblance to one another. Their mannerisms, even their thoughts and preferences seem linked. Kayla and Kellie Bingham were certainly synchronized from birth to adulthood. Independently choosing similar interests in sports and careers. Both enrolled at the Medical University of South Carolina, planning to graduate with medical degrees.

On the way to achieving those degrees something went sideways. They were suspected and then accused of cheating on their exams, a conspiracy of two sisters, making certain that each would respond to test questions accurately, or at the very least, in concert with one another, sharing what they believed to be correct responses on their exam papers.

To actually have done so would not speak well of their intelligence level. Had they been aware that their tests reflected each other's with no deviation, they might also have thought that something would appear awry to test examiners. But in fact the two sisters did not consult and conspire with one another. Each paid attention to the exam before them and responded according to their individual agency mindset in reflection of what they had absorbed in their classes.

Roughly a week following the end-of-year exams they were called in to a university administrator's office for a conversation in May 2016. The sisters had completed and turned in their test papers and the proctors were faced with what they considered to be unusual similarities in their responses. Of 307 questions 296 reflected the same answers. Similar wrong answers appeared on 54 of the questions. "It didn't look good", the administrator informed them.

"We were floored. She told us that we were being accused of academic dishonesty." An investigation was carried out by a university honour council whose conclusion was that the sisters had collaborated on their exams. The sisters appealed the conclusion and the result was that the conclusion was overturned. The next step they took was to take the university to court.

The university, the sisters argued, should have been aware that identical twins often perform similarly. Testimony by psychology professor Nancy Segal held that Kayla and Kellie's similar scores reflected their genetic profiles. And a jury agreed, awarding them a total of $1.5 million in damages. The accusations, stressed Kayla, beyond defaming the sisters, derailed their aspirations of becoming physicians.

Professor Segal teaches at California State University Fullerton, running the Twin Studies Center at the university. Research, she explained, shows that identical twins are more alike in IQ scores and specific mental strengths and weaknesses than are fraternal twins or those who are not related. 

The sisters' withdrawal from their studies at MUSC in 2016 followed the recommendation of a dean after their experiences of hostility emanating from other students when the investigation initially found them guilty of exam collaboration. They ultimately decided to enter law school. Both now work as government affairs advisers at a Columbia, South Carolina law firm.

Medical University of South Carolina. Google Maps