6 ms·

Crowdfunding a defense for scientific research

79 points by sherilm 3y ago

ilamont 3y ago
Strengthening Massachusetts’s laws, or passing a federal anti-SLAPP law (Gino is suing in a federal district court, because there’s also a Title IX element to her complaint) could make it easier for defendants in the future to recover legal fees when they’re the target of a lawsuit that attacks their protected speech. Schools like Harvard should also build in protections for whistleblowers, even those with no affiliation, in such cases where the university's own investigation confirms academic misconduct or fraud.
monero-xmr 3y ago
Wow this lady is gunning hard for Villain of the Year. She should be having shame and remorse - instead she doubles down and sues her accusers along with playing the sexism card. Seems even more like a grift.
isntbilly 3y ago
This academic is accused of data falsification and their most book is titled "Rebel talent : Why it pays to break the rules at work and in life"
- mistrial9 3y ago
  and invited speaker at Google with publicity https://youtu.be/GQywxCy-Dz8?si=Hu8X5jKnnjLmFQDy https://youtu.be/GQywxCy-Dz8?si=Hu8X5jKnnjLmFQDy
  - isntbilly 3y ago
    Thank you, I'll enjoy watching this
- rahimnathwani 3y ago
  Read the 5 most recent reviews on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Talent-Pays-Break-Rules/dp/0062694634#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Talent-Pays-Break-Rules/dp/0062...
aeurielesn 3y ago
This is insane. Is this unique to the US legal system?
- rwmj 3y ago
  SLAPP is common in the UK too unfortunately. Here's a particularly egregious example involving a Minister: https://archive.ph/dVard https://archive.ph/dVard Another one involving the Wirecard fraud where Wirecard sued the FT: https://archive.ph/J05QO https://archive.ph/J05QO Another one involving Putin's cronies suing a writer: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/roman-abramovich-settles-libel-claim-over-putin-biography https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/roman-abramovi... A bitcoin guy: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/12/who-can-say-who-is-not-satoshi-hodlonaut-and-wright-go-to-trial-to-find-out/ https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/12/who-can-say-who-i...
- jgeada 3y ago
  Not sure it is unique, but it is certainly a very real property of the system. In many cases, the point isn't to ever get to trial, it is just to exhaust the finances, resources or time for the other party. It has been manipulated over a long period of time to be particularly friendly to the people and corporations with the deepest pockets.
- aidenn0 3y ago
  SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) can be an issue in any system of torts. Solutions vary from specific anti-SLAPP laws (which Massachusetts actually has, but apparently it's hard to prove), to making awarding attorney's fees to the winner a typical outcome. The issue is always about balancing the two sides, since it's really difficult to increase the barriers to filing frivolous lawsuits without also increasing the barriers to filing legitimate lawsuits.
AlbertCory 3y ago
Filing a Motion To Dismiss is always the first defense against a garbage suit like this. Unfortunately, the plaintiff also gets to argue, which means you need big legal fees just to file it. There are legal foundations for all sorts of causes, and they're mostly 501(c)(3) organizations. So I don't know why there can't be one for scientific whistleblowers as well.
shadowgovt 3y ago
Taking the devil's advocate side for a bit: this is what defamation law is for. If believed, these allegations basically end her career. It's good to have recourse in law against baseless accusations of this magnitude. I'm not even surprised that neither Harvard nor the three institutions the authors of the Data Colada blog are prepped / insured for this: this kind of lawsuit would mark the person levying it as dangerous to work with in general and probably mark the end of their academic career one way or the other. It's an exit gambit for someone who will not be working in academia in the future. The breakdown in process is a failure to protect the defendants until the lawsuit is resolved. That issue is kind of endemic to how law is done in the US; the process is expensive, and the costs sit on the shoulders of the parties involved until the suit is resolved. It'll be interesting to see how institutions react to this suit in the future. I imagine a pool of insurance money against spurious defamation claims would become standard, especially among the universities that gather more reputation from spot-checking other people's work than from producing trail-blazing research.
- dekhn 3y ago
  She was already investigated by her own university, https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67659904/1/12/gino-v-harvard-university/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67659904/1/12/gino-v-ha... and they retracted her papers for apparent manipulation and irreproducibility. I would hazard that the productive period of her academic career is likely over.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- techwizrd 3y ago
  How should defamation be handled? It is good to have recourse against baseless accusations, but we also want to prevent chilling effects discouraging fact-checking. If handled privately, then the public may not even be aware of falsified information while the parties resolve the claims; and we wouldn't want decisions or further research to be based upon falsified data. > With defamation lawsuits, White said, “The process is the punishment.” Even assuming that Gino’s claims are dismissed at trial, the suit will still have bullied researchers who pointed out problems with her work — and may make other researchers more reluctant to follow in their footsteps by speaking out when they notice signs of data manipulation. > “However, it is not worth it for me to do this in the future, or to share my findings publicly,” Pallesen wrote. “This would give me a non-zero risk of financial ruin, and no real personal upside. Probably many researchers are making this same calculation at this moment.”
xyst 3y ago
Harvard should have their lawyers counter sue once this lawsuit is thrown out of court. Their reputation as a premier Ivy League university is permanently stained because of her actions. Probably won’t happen but would be a satisfying end to this saga. Also, I wonder why nobody is selling a liability insurance policy for journalists and researchers. Too expensive? Too niche? Underwriters can find the litigations against certain orgs and individual journalists/researchers and determine risk and premiums. As a researcher, have costs of premiums covered as part of grant or story. Much better to pay a couple thousand in premiums rather than $600K in legal fees.
curiousgal 3y ago
Meta: The title makes it seem like she sued her employer Harvard and that Harvard turned to GoFundMe... Stunts like this is why I do not feel bad about using an adblocker.
karaterobot 3y ago
Things I would have liked this article to include: * A link to the actual suit * Some of the specific claims made in the suit: is Gino alleging inaccuracies, or something else? * An explanation of what "Data Colada" is, and who is funding it. Relevant because their employer would often fund the defense if it comes from research they paid for, and in this case all I've seen is that they are funding "some" of it, with an indefinite amount of the (expected) remainder being requested via GoFundMe. If they're a small, poorly-funded project, that would explain it, but I do want the article to give me this kind of context. * I guess just in general I would have liked to see a more neutral tone, and for the writer to have some sort of legal background. Enough to provide the readers some sort of context for what is happening, rather than just how they should feel about it, which is what it seems to be doing. It's a bad sign that I don't see much in this article that couldn't have been taken from the GoFundMe project page text.
- evolve2k 3y ago
  This is a developing story, their earlier article (linked at the top of this article), covers the backstory and has links to sources etc https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/9/23825966/francesca-gino-honesty-research-scientific-fraud-defamation-harvard-university https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/9/23825966/frances...
- yoyoyo1122 3y ago
  Considering this is like the 4th part of an ongoing story, it'd be repetitive having to always explain the context. That's why the first paragraph links to the previous article where it links to the actual suit.
  - karaterobot 3y ago
    I don't think it would require a full reiteration of the original article. You can briefly summarize the relevant facts; newspapers have been handling ongoing stories this way for over a century, it's a well tested pattern. I've also seen websites that provide an executive summary and links in a callout box at the top of the page, that's an option too. Just providing an uncharacterized link does not serve the reader very well.
morisy 3y ago
If you're a publisher, just the insurance for lawsuits like this can cost $10,000 to $20,000 at the low end, and even if there's little merit to the case the litigation costs can easily go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if a few things don't break your way. If your case gets the right publicity at the right time, there's a number of groups that might be a fit for pro bono assistance (I've personally benefitted from just that in at least three cases), but counting on that is a huge gamble and, even if the case is thrown out, then spikes your insurance costs down the road. There are non-profits and foundations that help with supporting folks, but they have to be very selective — if one case can cost $250,000 in legal expenses, and those costs can go into the million+ range with appeals etc (let alone a loss), even very deep pockets can quickly run dry. And to make matters worse, one person shared that a lot of lawyers that sue in this law actually look for folks that have insurance policies, and then just ask for whatever the max of the policy is, so the advice is don't bother with a $2 million policy vs. $1 million because they'll just double the ask. Yes, in some cases you can try to recoup legal expenses, but that often involves more years of being tangled in litigation, more legal bills, and more uncertainty.
- deathlight 3y ago
  I shall play an etude on my smallest violin.
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    I wonder if there is a piccollo-sized version of violin. Like a violinio
toomuchtodo 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Gino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Gino
wonderwonder 3y ago
This is unfortunately the US legal system in a nut shell. You don't have to be right a lot of the time, you just have to have more money than the person you are suing or who are in a position to sue you. You can just bleed them to the point they have to surrender. No such thing as a public defender when you are being sued. Plus the process itself is so complex, its pretty hard to figure out how to represent yourself especially while working a full time job. 600k to defend yourself from a defamation lawsuit brought by someone who's own employer has done the research and labeled them a fraud. So in the best case scenario all you win is poverty and debt.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  Side note: arbitration solves this. It costs less than open litigation and resolves faster. If you can bind a wealthier counterparty to arbitration, in general, do it. Some groups have led a terrific PR campaign against arbitration, and it’s led consumers to blindly give up a good tool. But anyone who has litigated or been sued will appreciate its value.
  - toomuchtodo 3y ago
    Will a personal umbrella policy cover arbitration costs similarly to traditional litigation? Obviously one should be familiar with their policy, just curious speaking in generalities.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > Will a personal umbrella policy cover arbitration costs similarly to traditional litigation? It should. Would double check, nonetheless.
    - kasey_junk 3y ago
      Signed up for umbrella coverage Friday. This came up and yes for my policy they were the same. Got it in writing today.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
blahyawnblah 3y ago
Would this fall under SLAPP or whatever where you're allowed to recover like 3x damages/costs?
- obviouslynotme 3y ago
  My attorney friend has explained to me that SLAPP is very hard to get, even when it is obvious, but especially when experts are involved. It's the civil equivalent of malicious prosecution, which is also notoriously difficult to get. Judges have a lot of sympathy for the attorneys that are in their courts everyday.
no_wizard 3y ago
>Facing that alarming state of affairs, defenders of Nelson, Simmons, and Simonsohn have put together a GoFundMe to help the researchers raise the conceivably hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be needed to defend themselves in court. I do wonder why Harvard doesn't pay for their defense, as they commissioned the study and presumably would like the results to stand, and if those who conducted the study are facing a lawsuit like this, surely you could argue it would hurt Harvard in some way?
tristor 3y ago
What's interesting is that her suit doesn't seem to counter the accusation of fraudulent data in her research, but rather that they can't prove it was her that actually did it. She seems to be expecting a former lab manager that worked for her to take the fall, even though she was the lead named author of the research.
- fatfingerd 3y ago
  I don't really know that her case against Harvard is that unreasonable. It's not like Harvard has never been caught prioritizing shielding its community over academic integrity, so why not this time? But the leap to going after the independent researchers is just bizarre. Do we have an obligation to stop if an institution suddenly prioritizes integrity and we don't know why?
ActorNightly 3y ago
Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League schools have absolutely nothing to do with academia. They are just training camps for elites. Personally I wouldn't trust anything that comes out of those institutions.
dang 3y ago
Related. Others? Is it defamation to point out scientific research fraud? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37152030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37152030 - Aug 2023 (13 comments) Harvard professor Francesca Gino was accused of faking data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36968670 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36968670 - Aug 2023 (146 comments) Fabricated data in research about honesty - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36907829 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36907829 - July 2023 (46 comments) Fraudulent data raise questions about superstar honesty researcher (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36726485 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36726485 - July 2023 (33 comments) UCLA professor refuses to cover for Dan Ariely in issue of data provenance - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36684242 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36684242 - July 2023 (131 comments) Harvard ethics professor allegedly fabricated multiple studies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36665247 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36665247 - July 2023 (215 comments) Harvard dishonesty expert accused of dishonesty - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36424090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36424090 - June 2023 (201 comments) Data Falsificada (Part 1): “Clusterfake” – Data Colada - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36374255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36374255 - June 2023 (7 comments) Noted study in psychology fails to replicate, crumbles with evidence of fraud - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28264097 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28264097 - Aug 2021 (102 comments) A Big Study About Honesty Turns Out to Be Based on Fake Data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257860 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28257860 - Aug 2021 (90 comments) Evidence of fraud in an influential field experiment about dishonesty - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28210642 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28210642 - Aug 2021 (51 comments)

79 points by sherilm 3y ago

Strengthening Massachusetts’s laws, or passing a federal anti-SLAPP law (Gino is suing in a federal district court, because there’s also a Title IX element to her complaint) could make it easier for defendants in the future to recover legal fees when they’re the target of a lawsuit that attacks their protected speech. Schools like Harvard should also build in protections for whistleblowers, even those with no affiliation, in such cases where the university's own investigation confirms academic misconduct or fraud.

monero-xmr 3y ago

Wow this lady is gunning hard for Villain of the Year. She should be having shame and remorse - instead she doubles down and sues her accusers along with playing the sexism card. Seems even more like a grift.

isntbilly 3y ago

This academic is accused of data falsification and their most book is titled "Rebel talent : Why it pays to break the rules at work and in life"

mistrial9 3y ago
and invited speaker at Google with publicity https://youtu.be/GQywxCy-Dz8?si=Hu8X5jKnnjLmFQDy https://youtu.be/GQywxCy-Dz8?si=Hu8X5jKnnjLmFQDy
- isntbilly 3y ago
  Thank you, I'll enjoy watching this
rahimnathwani 3y ago
Read the 5 most recent reviews on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Talent-Pays-Break-Rules/dp/0062694634#customerReviews https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Talent-Pays-Break-Rules/dp/0062...

aeurielesn 3y ago

This is insane. Is this unique to the US legal system?

rwmj 3y ago
SLAPP is common in the UK too unfortunately. Here's a particularly egregious example involving a Minister: https://archive.ph/dVard https://archive.ph/dVard Another one involving the Wirecard fraud where Wirecard sued the FT: https://archive.ph/J05QO https://archive.ph/J05QO Another one involving Putin's cronies suing a writer: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/roman-abramovich-settles-libel-claim-over-putin-biography https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/roman-abramovi... A bitcoin guy: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/12/who-can-say-who-is-not-satoshi-hodlonaut-and-wright-go-to-trial-to-find-out/ https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/12/who-can-say-who-i...
jgeada 3y ago
Not sure it is unique, but it is certainly a very real property of the system. In many cases, the point isn't to ever get to trial, it is just to exhaust the finances, resources or time for the other party. It has been manipulated over a long period of time to be particularly friendly to the people and corporations with the deepest pockets.
aidenn0 3y ago
SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) can be an issue in any system of torts. Solutions vary from specific anti-SLAPP laws (which Massachusetts actually has, but apparently it's hard to prove), to making awarding attorney's fees to the winner a typical outcome. The issue is always about balancing the two sides, since it's really difficult to increase the barriers to filing frivolous lawsuits without also increasing the barriers to filing legitimate lawsuits.

AlbertCory 3y ago

Filing a Motion To Dismiss is always the first defense against a garbage suit like this. Unfortunately, the plaintiff also gets to argue, which means you need big legal fees just to file it. There are legal foundations for all sorts of causes, and they're mostly 501(c)(3) organizations. So I don't know why there can't be one for scientific whistleblowers as well.

shadowgovt 3y ago

Taking the devil's advocate side for a bit: this is what defamation law is for. If believed, these allegations basically end her career. It's good to have recourse in law against baseless accusations of this magnitude. I'm not even surprised that neither Harvard nor the three institutions the authors of the Data Colada blog are prepped / insured for this: this kind of lawsuit would mark the person levying it as dangerous to work with in general and probably mark the end of their academic career one way or the other. It's an exit gambit for someone who will not be working in academia in the future. The breakdown in process is a failure to protect the defendants until the lawsuit is resolved. That issue is kind of endemic to how law is done in the US; the process is expensive, and the costs sit on the shoulders of the parties involved until the suit is resolved. It'll be interesting to see how institutions react to this suit in the future. I imagine a pool of insurance money against spurious defamation claims would become standard, especially among the universities that gather more reputation from spot-checking other people's work than from producing trail-blazing research.

dekhn 3y ago
She was already investigated by her own university, https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67659904/1/12/gino-v-harvard-university/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67659904/1/12/gino-v-ha... and they retracted her papers for apparent manipulation and irreproducibility. I would hazard that the productive period of her academic career is likely over.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
techwizrd 3y ago
How should defamation be handled? It is good to have recourse against baseless accusations, but we also want to prevent chilling effects discouraging fact-checking. If handled privately, then the public may not even be aware of falsified information while the parties resolve the claims; and we wouldn't want decisions or further research to be based upon falsified data. > With defamation lawsuits, White said, “The process is the punishment.” Even assuming that Gino’s claims are dismissed at trial, the suit will still have bullied researchers who pointed out problems with her work — and may make other researchers more reluctant to follow in their footsteps by speaking out when they notice signs of data manipulation. > “However, it is not worth it for me to do this in the future, or to share my findings publicly,” Pallesen wrote. “This would give me a non-zero risk of financial ruin, and no real personal upside. Probably many researchers are making this same calculation at this moment.”

xyst 3y ago

Harvard should have their lawyers counter sue once this lawsuit is thrown out of court. Their reputation as a premier Ivy League university is permanently stained because of her actions. Probably won’t happen but would be a satisfying end to this saga. Also, I wonder why nobody is selling a liability insurance policy for journalists and researchers. Too expensive? Too niche? Underwriters can find the litigations against certain orgs and individual journalists/researchers and determine risk and premiums. As a researcher, have costs of premiums covered as part of grant or story. Much better to pay a couple thousand in premiums rather than $600K in legal fees.

curiousgal 3y ago

Meta: The title makes it seem like she sued her employer Harvard and that Harvard turned to GoFundMe... Stunts like this is why I do not feel bad about using an adblocker.

karaterobot 3y ago

Things I would have liked this article to include: * A link to the actual suit * Some of the specific claims made in the suit: is Gino alleging inaccuracies, or something else? * An explanation of what "Data Colada" is, and who is funding it. Relevant because their employer would often fund the defense if it comes from research they paid for, and in this case all I've seen is that they are funding "some" of it, with an indefinite amount of the (expected) remainder being requested via GoFundMe. If they're a small, poorly-funded project, that would explain it, but I do want the article to give me this kind of context. * I guess just in general I would have liked to see a more neutral tone, and for the writer to have some sort of legal background. Enough to provide the readers some sort of context for what is happening, rather than just how they should feel about it, which is what it seems to be doing. It's a bad sign that I don't see much in this article that couldn't have been taken from the GoFundMe project page text.

evolve2k 3y ago
This is a developing story, their earlier article (linked at the top of this article), covers the backstory and has links to sources etc https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/9/23825966/francesca-gino-honesty-research-scientific-fraud-defamation-harvard-university https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/8/9/23825966/frances...
yoyoyo1122 3y ago
Considering this is like the 4th part of an ongoing story, it'd be repetitive having to always explain the context. That's why the first paragraph links to the previous article where it links to the actual suit.
- karaterobot 3y ago
  I don't think it would require a full reiteration of the original article. You can briefly summarize the relevant facts; newspapers have been handling ongoing stories this way for over a century, it's a well tested pattern. I've also seen websites that provide an executive summary and links in a callout box at the top of the page, that's an option too. Just providing an uncharacterized link does not serve the reader very well.

morisy 3y ago

If you're a publisher, just the insurance for lawsuits like this can cost $10,000 to $20,000 at the low end, and even if there's little merit to the case the litigation costs can easily go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if a few things don't break your way. If your case gets the right publicity at the right time, there's a number of groups that might be a fit for pro bono assistance (I've personally benefitted from just that in at least three cases), but counting on that is a huge gamble and, even if the case is thrown out, then spikes your insurance costs down the road. There are non-profits and foundations that help with supporting folks, but they have to be very selective — if one case can cost $250,000 in legal expenses, and those costs can go into the million+ range with appeals etc (let alone a loss), even very deep pockets can quickly run dry. And to make matters worse, one person shared that a lot of lawyers that sue in this law actually look for folks that have insurance policies, and then just ask for whatever the max of the policy is, so the advice is don't bother with a $2 million policy vs. $1 million because they'll just double the ask. Yes, in some cases you can try to recoup legal expenses, but that often involves more years of being tangled in litigation, more legal bills, and more uncertainty.

deathlight 3y ago
I shall play an etude on my smallest violin.
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  I wonder if there is a piccollo-sized version of violin. Like a violinio

toomuchtodo 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Gino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Gino

wonderwonder 3y ago

This is unfortunately the US legal system in a nut shell. You don't have to be right a lot of the time, you just have to have more money than the person you are suing or who are in a position to sue you. You can just bleed them to the point they have to surrender. No such thing as a public defender when you are being sued. Plus the process itself is so complex, its pretty hard to figure out how to represent yourself especially while working a full time job. 600k to defend yourself from a defamation lawsuit brought by someone who's own employer has done the research and labeled them a fraud. So in the best case scenario all you win is poverty and debt.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
Side note: arbitration solves this. It costs less than open litigation and resolves faster. If you can bind a wealthier counterparty to arbitration, in general, do it. Some groups have led a terrific PR campaign against arbitration, and it’s led consumers to blindly give up a good tool. But anyone who has litigated or been sued will appreciate its value.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  Will a personal umbrella policy cover arbitration costs similarly to traditional litigation? Obviously one should be familiar with their policy, just curious speaking in generalities.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > Will a personal umbrella policy cover arbitration costs similarly to traditional litigation? It should. Would double check, nonetheless.
  - kasey_junk 3y ago
    Signed up for umbrella coverage Friday. This came up and yes for my policy they were the same. Got it in writing today.
- AlbertCory 3y ago

blahyawnblah 3y ago

Would this fall under SLAPP or whatever where you're allowed to recover like 3x damages/costs?

obviouslynotme 3y ago
My attorney friend has explained to me that SLAPP is very hard to get, even when it is obvious, but especially when experts are involved. It's the civil equivalent of malicious prosecution, which is also notoriously difficult to get. Judges have a lot of sympathy for the attorneys that are in their courts everyday.

no_wizard 3y ago

>Facing that alarming state of affairs, defenders of Nelson, Simmons, and Simonsohn have put together a GoFundMe to help the researchers raise the conceivably hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be needed to defend themselves in court. I do wonder why Harvard doesn't pay for their defense, as they commissioned the study and presumably would like the results to stand, and if those who conducted the study are facing a lawsuit like this, surely you could argue it would hurt Harvard in some way?

tristor 3y ago

What's interesting is that her suit doesn't seem to counter the accusation of fraudulent data in her research, but rather that they can't prove it was her that actually did it. She seems to be expecting a former lab manager that worked for her to take the fall, even though she was the lead named author of the research.

fatfingerd 3y ago
I don't really know that her case against Harvard is that unreasonable. It's not like Harvard has never been caught prioritizing shielding its community over academic integrity, so why not this time? But the leap to going after the independent researchers is just bizarre. Do we have an obligation to stop if an institution suddenly prioritizes integrity and we don't know why?

ActorNightly 3y ago

Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League schools have absolutely nothing to do with academia. They are just training camps for elites. Personally I wouldn't trust anything that comes out of those institutions.

dang 3y ago

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