Harvard professor accused of research fraud files defamation lawsuit against university, academics

Alex Koller

The Boston Globe

Originally posted 4 August 23

Here is an excerpt:

In the filing, Gino, a renowned behavioral scientist who studies the psychology of decisions, denied having ever falsified or fabricated data. She alleged that Harvard’s investigation into her work was unfair and biased.

The lawsuit alleges that the committee did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Gino “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly” falsified or fabricated data, as Harvard policy required, and “ignored” exculpatory evidence. The suit also decries Data Colada’s posts as a “vicious, defamatory smear campaign.” The blog’s inquiries into Gino’s work initially sparked Harvard’s investigation.

In a statement posted to LinkedIn Wednesday, Gino refuted allegations against her and explained her decision to take legal action against Harvard and Data Colada.

“I want to be very clear: I have never, ever falsified data or engaged in research misconduct of any kind,” she wrote. “Today I had no choice but to file a lawsuit against Harvard University and members of the Data Colada group, who worked together to destroy my career and reputation despite admitting they have no evidence proving their allegations.”

She added that the university and authors “reached outrageous conclusions based entirely on inference, assumption, and implausible leaps of logic.”

The lawsuit accuses all of the defendants of defamation, and also accuses Harvard of gender discrimination, breach of contract, and bad faith and unfair dealing with Gino, who has been a tenured professor of business administration at Harvard since 2014.

Gino was first notified by Harvard of fraud allegations against her work in October 2021, according to the suit. She then learned that the university would conduct its own investigation in April 2022.

The filing alleges that Harvard’s investigation committee interviewed six of Gino’s collaborators and two research assistants, all of whom defended the integrity of Gino’s practices and said they had no evidence Gino had ever pressured anyone to produce a specific result.

The info is here.

Despite allegations, suspended priest thrives as family therapist

Caitlin McCabe
Philadelphia Inquirer
Originally posted July 16, 2015

After the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden removed Edward Igle from active ministry in 2000 over an allegation of sex abuse, he turned to his second career: family counseling.

Licensed as a therapist since the 1980s, the suspended priest runs a South Jersey practice, counseling families and children, and teaches related classes through a Philadelphia-based center, including on how to identify and clinically treat victims of sex abuse.

In 2011, church officials told New Jersey regulators about two men who claimed that Igle abused them in the 1970s. The diocese deemed both claims credible, a spokesman said, but too late under the statute of limitations to lead to prosecution.

The state has repeatedly renewed Igle's licenses.

In interviews this month, Igle, 68, denied any misconduct. He called "inaccurate" any suggestion that the first abuse allegation forced him from ministry.

"I have never sexually abused anyone in my life," he said last week at his Vineland family and marriage counseling practice, the Center for Relational Counseling.

He said that although he counsels children, he never meets alone with them. And when he teaches professionals about sex abuse, among other topics, he said he sometimes mentions that he was once accused of abuse.

The entire article is here.