19 ms·

The student-run newspaper broke the story and relentlessly pursued it. Stanford president’s research under investigation for scientific misconduct, University

The student-run newspaper broke the story and relentlessly pursued it. Stanford president’s research under investigation for scientific misconduct, University admits ‘mistakes’ https://stanforddaily.com/2022/11/29/stanford-presidents-research-under-investigation-for-scientific-misconduct-university-admits-mistakes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2022/11/29/stanford-presidents-res... Stanford president dodges research misconduct questions https://stanforddaily.com/2023/04/25/stanford-president-dodges-research-misconduct-questions/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/04/25/stanford-president-dodg... Internal review found ‘falsified data’ in Stanford President’s Alzheimer’s research, colleagues allege https://stanforddaily.com/2023/02/17/internal-review-found-falsified-data-in-stanford-presidents-alzheimers-research-colleagues-allege/ https://stanforddaily.com/2023/02/17/internal-review-found-f... The reporter, Theo Baker, is a freshman. https://stanforddaily.com/author/tabaker/ https://stanforddaily.com/author/tabaker/

quailfarmer 3y ago
All written by freshman reporter Theo Baker: https://twitter.com/tab_delete/status/ https://twitter.com/tab_delete/status/ His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser. It’s an interesting story for sure.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago
  Wow! You can't make this up. It's like one side of the "legacy elite" came around and smacked down a whole different side of the "legacy elite."
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Why would you classify Baker’s family as “legacy elite”?
    - drBonkers 3y ago
      Are you serious? > His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser.
      - yreg 3y ago
        Your opinion that the people working at those position are 'legacy elite' is clearly not universal. I'm not even sure what's 'legacy elite' supposed to mean, other than that it is I suppose negative?
        DirkH 3y ago
        You're unaware there are people who more easily get into elite schools because of their parents? Educate yourself. It is a widespread systemic problem often called affirmative action for Whites: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_preferences https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_preferences "Nepobaby" (as in nepotism baby) or simply "Legacy" is more commonly used. This skips what is supposed to be a meritocracy and can quite straightforwardly be argued to be perpetuating an oligarchy and plutocracy So yes, it's negative.
        yreg 3y ago
        Legacy elite is not mentioned on that site, not sure how I was supposed to know what the poster means. Anyway sounds pretty rude to claim that a specific student was admitted thanks to his parents without any evidence. Thank you for your recommendation regarding the topics I need to educate myself on.
        bentlegen 3y ago
        Basically folks have bought into conservative propaganda that white collar journalists are somehow equally “elite” as the ruling owner class.
      - sgustard 3y ago
        Point is, his dad probably didn't write to the university president (which would be ironic at this point) asking him to admit his deadbeat son as a favor. The student earned his admission the same way anyone does: essays, grades, luck. I'm sure he was helped by the gift from his parents of good writing skills and some doggedness. "Legacy elite" tends to imply there's someone more deserving of his spot.
  - arcticfox 3y ago
    That's an odd framing of what happened here, I don't really get what it has to do with "legacy elites". I guess maybe in the sense that his parents were exceptional, but when I think of "legacy elites" I think of multi-generational wealth and power that often has little to do with individual merit (and is probably correlated against merit, in my experience). It certainly is fascinating though. Like it will be interesting to see what happens if the kid of Ashton Eaton (gold medalist, decathlon) and Brianne Theisen-Eaton (world champion / bronze medalist, heptathlon) decides to dabble in athletics in 10-15 years. This is pretty much a journalistic version of that scenario; if there was ever someone born to lay waste to a fraudulent Stanford president, surely it was this kid.
    - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
      Yeah this is exactly what I’m describing His parents are “elite” and he’s following in their footsteps - hence the “legacy.” It’s one of the few generational advantages that I’m generally ok with ethically (passing down a trade), so long as it’s not abused. In this case that advantage seems to be being used for the greater good which is great!
    - avgcorrection 3y ago
      It’s always interesting to watch the semi-elites & elites of HN discuss and rationalize the merits of class society.
  - LastTrain 3y ago
    Why would you consider two moderately paid journalists part of the "legacy elite", how are what they do comparable - at all - to the president of Stanford University?
    - johntiger1 3y ago
      Exactly, don't know why they are trying to frame the kid as part of some legacy elite. We should judge Theo for his actions (commendable), not who his parents are.
      - xvector 3y ago
        Theo's achievements wouldn't be possible without his parent's legacy to protect him. The average student journalist absolutely could not do the same thing Theo did here.
    - michaelt 3y ago
      There are many yardsticks by which you can measure elite status, other than salary. I respect Dennis Ritchie, but not for his salary. If you measure status by the yardstick "Number of people in the white house you're on a first name basis with" then I am reasonably confident that NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker scores higher than the president of Stanford University. None of this detracts from what Theo Baker has achieved, of course.
      - LastTrain 3y ago
        Interesting. So, by that yardstick, a cook in the Whitehouse basement is legacy elite. So is my 20 year old niece. Sorry, but a more successful than average journalist is not part of the "legacy elite", whatever the fuck that means anyway.
        michaelt 3y ago
        The term 'legacy elite' is indeed ambiguous, so let me state things in a different way. Imagine you're the President of Stanford, and some kid on the student newspaper is bothering you about some decade-old nonsense. You can barely even remember fudging the numbers and besides, everyone was doing it. Student newspapers have been railing against the university since time immemorial, but this guy seems determined to harass you personally. It bothers you and you want it to stop. You could probably make it stop; almost everyone is guilty of something, and society has seen fit to give you your own police force. And even if you can't find any evidence of pot or drinking or piracy, why shouldn't rules about harassment, bullying and creating a hostile workplace be on your side? Even if that wouldn't hold up in court, probably someone can convince the kid that 'voluntarily' stopping would be in everyone's best interests. Then you find out the kid's parents both write for major national periodicals. And not occasional contract work or writing the sunday style magazine, they're serious journalists. You realise this kid has probably already received advice on the lines between journalism and harassment. Probably very well informed advice. And even if his parents don't personally write about rising censorship on college campuses, they undoubtedly know people who do. You're going to have to do this one by the book.
  - KirillPanov 3y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction
- boeingUH60 3y ago
  I checked his bio, and Baker appears to be a computer science student doing journalism as a hobby. It brings me to wonder how much choice people really have in choosing their paths…if both your parents are journalists or [insert whatever profession], it’s as if you’re likely to pick it up no matter how hard you try not to…
  - sonicshadow 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - dang 3y ago
      We've banned this account for posting abusive and flamebait comments. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
  - WastingMyTime89 3y ago
    It’s also likely that having grown up surrounded by journalists and people working for newspapers, his education allows him to properly write articles as a freshman. That doesn’t prevent him for learning computer science if that’s what he likes doing.
    - tnecniv 3y ago
      Yeah if you have insight into why a field is interesting from a younger age, you are more likely to be interested in it yourself as well. That also goes the other way. My dad was a lawyer, and I know a little more about the law and legal profession than the average joe. However that was enough information to tell me I had no interest in being a lawyer.
  - no_wizard 3y ago
    I realize this is not the point of the article, however you hit on something here I always thought. I think Journalism is a great dual major choice (or maybe just a minor), with whatever it is you want to study, particularly if its in conjunction with engineering, computer science, physics, biology, finance / accounting etc. Why? Because Journalists are trained to be good communicators and summarize ideas (a worthwhile skill in most professions) and they are also taught to be ferocious in finding and corroborating information for its "truthiness". Having these skills would give most people an edge in whatever line of work you are in.
- bmmayer1 3y ago
  Theo Baker also became the youngest person to win a Polk Award because of this story, at 18. Very cool!
  - tristor 3y ago
    And because of this, The Stanford Daily became the first independent student newspaper to ever win a Polk Award.
    - jxramos 3y ago
      oh wow that's useful context. Congratulations to the Daily.
  - brightlancer 3y ago
    Despite the lack of name recognition, the Polk Award is a serious award which is well respected among journalists.
- fsckboy 3y ago
  > His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser wow, his parents maybe can learn from this! How to doggedly pursue allegations against the occupant of the Whitehouse, without fear or favor, with a healty dose of Grabthar's Hammer (never give up, never surrender)
OldGuyInTheClub 3y ago
He would have gotten away with it except for those meddling kids.
- strangattractor 3y ago
  Give him a Scooby snack.
malux85 3y ago
Good, this kind of thing in academia is far too common. Cherry picking results all the way to outright falsifying data. It’s a problem at Auckland university here in NZ too, my friends who are studying there say that their results are ignored if they are inconvenient. It’s disgusting, and they should make an example of them (they are I guess)
- deepspace 3y ago
  I was just reading an article from a HN story yesterday, where it was found that around 1/4 of data published in studies in anesthesiology were found to be faked. You know, anesthesiology, the field where giving you the wrong drug or the wrong amount can kill you. I strongly suspect that a driving factor is guys like this - leaders who reward "positive" results and punish "negative" ones.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- f6v 3y ago
  I don’t think it has to do with academia. It’s just that manipulating data is common if it benefits people. Think of Facebook ad efficiency scandal, it’s just one example.
helloworld 3y ago
Here's more about Baker: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/theo-baker-stanford-marc-tessier-lavigne-investigation https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/theo-baker-s...
ProjectArcturis 3y ago
Good for Theo for writing this up, but it was Elizabeth Bik who got the ball rolling in discovering and investigating the fraud.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- tda 3y ago
  Some links: https://scienceintegritydigest.com/ https://scienceintegritydigest.com/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik
- jhbadger 3y ago
  Bik is a wonderful resource in science in general. She also runs the Microbiome Digest https://microbiomedigest.com https://microbiomedigest.com that probably the majority of scientists working on the microbiome use to keep current in our field.
- danso 3y ago
  "Writing this up"? It's likely true that Dr. Bik got the ball running (I believe she had posted about the anomalous figures months/years in the past), but there's a big difference between noticing fraudulent signs in published research, versus pursuing that lead into an investigation that attempts to identify the actual decision makers. Marc Tessier-Lavigne said all along that the bad/faked data was the work of other sloppy/bad actors. It was only through the reporting from Theo Baker and his colleagues that the public learned of MTL's negligence and culpability.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - P_I_Staker 3y ago
    Don't you understand it's the IDEA that matters?
    - 3y ago
JJMcJ 3y ago
Go Cardinal. The Daily can be considered a real newspaper.
marcosfelt 3y ago
He was interviewed by one of the local TV stations today: https://abc7news.com/stanford-theo-baker-university-president-resigns-marc-tessier-lavigne-daily/13523844/ https://abc7news.com/stanford-theo-baker-university-presiden...
frankfrank13 3y ago
Obviously a sad, and kind of disturbing story, but the meta-story is incredible

quailfarmer 3y ago

All written by freshman reporter Theo Baker: https://twitter.com/tab_delete/status/ https://twitter.com/tab_delete/status/ His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser. It’s an interesting story for sure.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago
Wow! You can't make this up. It's like one side of the "legacy elite" came around and smacked down a whole different side of the "legacy elite."
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  Why would you classify Baker’s family as “legacy elite”?
  - drBonkers 3y ago
    Are you serious? > His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser.
    - yreg 3y ago
      Your opinion that the people working at those position are 'legacy elite' is clearly not universal. I'm not even sure what's 'legacy elite' supposed to mean, other than that it is I suppose negative?
      - DirkH 3y ago
        You're unaware there are people who more easily get into elite schools because of their parents? Educate yourself. It is a widespread systemic problem often called affirmative action for Whites: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_preferences https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legacy_preferences "Nepobaby" (as in nepotism baby) or simply "Legacy" is more commonly used. This skips what is supposed to be a meritocracy and can quite straightforwardly be argued to be perpetuating an oligarchy and plutocracy So yes, it's negative.
        yreg 3y ago
        Legacy elite is not mentioned on that site, not sure how I was supposed to know what the poster means. Anyway sounds pretty rude to claim that a specific student was admitted thanks to his parents without any evidence. Thank you for your recommendation regarding the topics I need to educate myself on.
      - bentlegen 3y ago
        Basically folks have bought into conservative propaganda that white collar journalists are somehow equally “elite” as the ruling owner class.
    - sgustard 3y ago
      Point is, his dad probably didn't write to the university president (which would be ironic at this point) asking him to admit his deadbeat son as a favor. The student earned his admission the same way anyone does: essays, grades, luck. I'm sure he was helped by the gift from his parents of good writing skills and some doggedness. "Legacy elite" tends to imply there's someone more deserving of his spot.
- arcticfox 3y ago
  That's an odd framing of what happened here, I don't really get what it has to do with "legacy elites". I guess maybe in the sense that his parents were exceptional, but when I think of "legacy elites" I think of multi-generational wealth and power that often has little to do with individual merit (and is probably correlated against merit, in my experience). It certainly is fascinating though. Like it will be interesting to see what happens if the kid of Ashton Eaton (gold medalist, decathlon) and Brianne Theisen-Eaton (world champion / bronze medalist, heptathlon) decides to dabble in athletics in 10-15 years. This is pretty much a journalistic version of that scenario; if there was ever someone born to lay waste to a fraudulent Stanford president, surely it was this kid.
  - AndrewKemendo 3y ago
    Yeah this is exactly what I’m describing His parents are “elite” and he’s following in their footsteps - hence the “legacy.” It’s one of the few generational advantages that I’m generally ok with ethically (passing down a trade), so long as it’s not abused. In this case that advantage seems to be being used for the greater good which is great!
  - avgcorrection 3y ago
    It’s always interesting to watch the semi-elites & elites of HN discuss and rationalize the merits of class society.
- LastTrain 3y ago
  Why would you consider two moderately paid journalists part of the "legacy elite", how are what they do comparable - at all - to the president of Stanford University?
  - johntiger1 3y ago
    Exactly, don't know why they are trying to frame the kid as part of some legacy elite. We should judge Theo for his actions (commendable), not who his parents are.
    - xvector 3y ago
      Theo's achievements wouldn't be possible without his parent's legacy to protect him. The average student journalist absolutely could not do the same thing Theo did here.
  - michaelt 3y ago
    There are many yardsticks by which you can measure elite status, other than salary. I respect Dennis Ritchie, but not for his salary. If you measure status by the yardstick "Number of people in the white house you're on a first name basis with" then I am reasonably confident that NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker scores higher than the president of Stanford University. None of this detracts from what Theo Baker has achieved, of course.
    - LastTrain 3y ago
      Interesting. So, by that yardstick, a cook in the Whitehouse basement is legacy elite. So is my 20 year old niece. Sorry, but a more successful than average journalist is not part of the "legacy elite", whatever the fuck that means anyway.
      - michaelt 3y ago
        The term 'legacy elite' is indeed ambiguous, so let me state things in a different way. Imagine you're the President of Stanford, and some kid on the student newspaper is bothering you about some decade-old nonsense. You can barely even remember fudging the numbers and besides, everyone was doing it. Student newspapers have been railing against the university since time immemorial, but this guy seems determined to harass you personally. It bothers you and you want it to stop. You could probably make it stop; almost everyone is guilty of something, and society has seen fit to give you your own police force. And even if you can't find any evidence of pot or drinking or piracy, why shouldn't rules about harassment, bullying and creating a hostile workplace be on your side? Even if that wouldn't hold up in court, probably someone can convince the kid that 'voluntarily' stopping would be in everyone's best interests. Then you find out the kid's parents both write for major national periodicals. And not occasional contract work or writing the sunday style magazine, they're serious journalists. You realise this kid has probably already received advice on the lines between journalism and harassment. Probably very well informed advice. And even if his parents don't personally write about rising censorship on college campuses, they undoubtedly know people who do. You're going to have to do this one by the book.
- KirillPanov 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_overproduction
boeingUH60 3y ago
I checked his bio, and Baker appears to be a computer science student doing journalism as a hobby. It brings me to wonder how much choice people really have in choosing their paths…if both your parents are journalists or [insert whatever profession], it’s as if you’re likely to pick it up no matter how hard you try not to…
- sonicshadow 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - dang 3y ago
    We've banned this account for posting abusive and flamebait comments. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- WastingMyTime89 3y ago
  It’s also likely that having grown up surrounded by journalists and people working for newspapers, his education allows him to properly write articles as a freshman. That doesn’t prevent him for learning computer science if that’s what he likes doing.
  - tnecniv 3y ago
    Yeah if you have insight into why a field is interesting from a younger age, you are more likely to be interested in it yourself as well. That also goes the other way. My dad was a lawyer, and I know a little more about the law and legal profession than the average joe. However that was enough information to tell me I had no interest in being a lawyer.
- no_wizard 3y ago
  I realize this is not the point of the article, however you hit on something here I always thought. I think Journalism is a great dual major choice (or maybe just a minor), with whatever it is you want to study, particularly if its in conjunction with engineering, computer science, physics, biology, finance / accounting etc. Why? Because Journalists are trained to be good communicators and summarize ideas (a worthwhile skill in most professions) and they are also taught to be ferocious in finding and corroborating information for its "truthiness". Having these skills would give most people an edge in whatever line of work you are in.
bmmayer1 3y ago
Theo Baker also became the youngest person to win a Polk Award because of this story, at 18. Very cool!
- tristor 3y ago
  And because of this, The Stanford Daily became the first independent student newspaper to ever win a Polk Award.
  - jxramos 3y ago
    oh wow that's useful context. Congratulations to the Daily.
- brightlancer 3y ago
  Despite the lack of name recognition, the Polk Award is a serious award which is well respected among journalists.
fsckboy 3y ago
> His parents are NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, and New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser wow, his parents maybe can learn from this! How to doggedly pursue allegations against the occupant of the Whitehouse, without fear or favor, with a healty dose of Grabthar's Hammer (never give up, never surrender)

OldGuyInTheClub 3y ago

He would have gotten away with it except for those meddling kids.

strangattractor 3y ago
Give him a Scooby snack.

malux85 3y ago

Good, this kind of thing in academia is far too common. Cherry picking results all the way to outright falsifying data. It’s a problem at Auckland university here in NZ too, my friends who are studying there say that their results are ignored if they are inconvenient. It’s disgusting, and they should make an example of them (they are I guess)

deepspace 3y ago
I was just reading an article from a HN story yesterday, where it was found that around 1/4 of data published in studies in anesthesiology were found to be faked. You know, anesthesiology, the field where giving you the wrong drug or the wrong amount can kill you. I strongly suspect that a driving factor is guys like this - leaders who reward "positive" results and punish "negative" ones.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
f6v 3y ago
I don’t think it has to do with academia. It’s just that manipulating data is common if it benefits people. Think of Facebook ad efficiency scandal, it’s just one example.

helloworld 3y ago

Here's more about Baker: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/theo-baker-stanford-marc-tessier-lavigne-investigation https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/theo-baker-s...

ProjectArcturis 3y ago

Good for Theo for writing this up, but it was Elizabeth Bik who got the ball rolling in discovering and investigating the fraud.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
tda 3y ago
Some links: https://scienceintegritydigest.com/ https://scienceintegritydigest.com/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_Bik
jhbadger 3y ago
Bik is a wonderful resource in science in general. She also runs the Microbiome Digest https://microbiomedigest.com https://microbiomedigest.com that probably the majority of scientists working on the microbiome use to keep current in our field.
danso 3y ago
"Writing this up"? It's likely true that Dr. Bik got the ball running (I believe she had posted about the anomalous figures months/years in the past), but there's a big difference between noticing fraudulent signs in published research, versus pursuing that lead into an investigation that attempts to identify the actual decision makers. Marc Tessier-Lavigne said all along that the bad/faked data was the work of other sloppy/bad actors. It was only through the reporting from Theo Baker and his colleagues that the public learned of MTL's negligence and culpability.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- P_I_Staker 3y ago
  Don't you understand it's the IDEA that matters?
  - 3y ago

JJMcJ 3y ago

Go Cardinal. The Daily can be considered a real newspaper.

marcosfelt 3y ago

He was interviewed by one of the local TV stations today: https://abc7news.com/stanford-theo-baker-university-president-resigns-marc-tessier-lavigne-daily/13523844/ https://abc7news.com/stanford-theo-baker-university-presiden...

frankfrank13 3y ago

Obviously a sad, and kind of disturbing story, but the meta-story is incredible