What’s New
Harvard University has weighed in for the first time on the high-profile academic-fraud case involving Francesca Gino, a dishonesty researcher accused of dishonesty.
The Harvard Business School professor is accused of fabricating data in four studies, a claim she denies. In August, Gino sued Harvard University; Srikant Datar, the Harvard Business School dean; and three scholars behind Data Colada, a blog that exposed the purported falsehoods, for defamation. In its partial motion to dismiss, Harvard argued that Gino’s complaints lack evidence and should be thrown out.
The Details
In Tuesday’s filing, the university doubled down on the Harvard Business School’s investigation of Gino, which it says uncovered “a pattern of serious research misconduct” in four separate studies she co-authored.
Following a university committee’s findings that Gino “had ‘intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly’ engaged in research misconduct,” the business-school dean informed Gino in June that she was being placed on a two-year administrative leave, according to the motion.
Harvard disputed Gino’s claims that it “gave into the demands” of the Data Colada scholars by conducting an investigation. Potential falsehoods in Gino’s work were sent to Harvard in 2021 by the writers of the blog, which features posts investigating the validity of research studies and advocating for data integrity.
In the end, Harvard said its investigation found that it would have been “highly implausible” for a bad actor to tamper with Gino’s data, as she claims. Such an operation, the filing stated, would require access to several of Gino’s password-protected accounts, her computer’s hard drive, and the ability to change data sets without being detected, among other things.
According to the university’s filing, Harvard intended to publicly post a 1,200-page final report on Gino’s research “with minimal redactions.” The university said Gino’s team was initially on board, but changed course last week.
Harvard’s response called for the court to dismiss eight of the 12 counts in Gino’s lawsuit. The university did not include its alleged violations of Title IX, the federal gender-equity law, but stated it “forcefully denies the allegations of gender discrimination” in Gino’s case, according to the filing.
The Backdrop
Gino became a national news story this past summer, after The Chronicle reported that her alleged research misconduct was more widespread than previously known. In June, academic journals began the process of retracting three of Gino’s co-authored studies after the scholars behind Data Colada published posts on what they characterized as evidence of fraud and suggested that “many more of Gino-authored papers” could “contain fake data.”
Gino’s lawsuit argued that Harvard’s investigation failed to find substantial evidence that she committed “research misconduct” and that the university deviated from normal procedure by imposing “overly harsh sanctions” against her. Gino also asserted that the Data Colada findings were “false and defamatory.”
Those “unlawful actions” ruined Gino’s career, the complaint alleges. Gino also accused Harvard Business School of gender discrimination: “Harvard has treated similarly situated male professors differently.” It characterized her as “a working mother of four young children and the breadwinner in her family” and a “role model” for other women in the school.
Gino, who’s facing possible tenure revocation, also defended herself in a letter last month to her Harvard Business School colleagues and started a website sharing her thoughts on the case: “It has been shattering to watch my career being decimated and my reputation completely destroyed,” Gino wrote on the website. “It has been hard to see how this situation impacted those around me — my family, my mentors, my collaborators and my students.”
What to Watch For
The case is in the early stages and could take months, if not years, to resolve. Even if Harvard successfully persuades the court to dismiss some counts, others might remain — including Gino’s claim of sex discrimination by Harvard.
“As we have always been clear, Prof. Gino is innocent of these accusations and Harvard’s process failed her miserably,” Andrew T. Miltenberg, a lawyer representing Gino, wrote in a statement to The Chronicle. “Our fight does not stop here.”
Data Colada, the research-integrity blog, has raised $370,000 via a GoFundMe campaign to help cover its legal expenses.
