[BostonCard]

Your position is fair, but there is a risk of rush to judgment as well.  I think it would be a big setback to the people who work hard to uncover potential fraud if it resulted in the high profile dismissal of a still well-regarded scientist that later didn't pan out.  I think you take the allegations seriously, and, in an ideal world, you have the leader step aside until everything is sorted out.  But if all it takes to fire a university president is a cloud of suspicion, then you will live under constant fear that someone, somewhere, will find something in someone's past.

I've authored enough papers with enough people where if you put a gun to my head, I would not be able to tell you with 100% confidence that there is nothing problematic in any of them.  The best I can offer is that I have not falsified any data, and that I did reasonable due diligence to make sure that everything added up.  But part of working in a team of people with complimentary skills means that at some point, you have to trust that people with specialized skills that I don't possess are on the up and up.  It's just a fact of life in complicated scientific projects these days.

BC

[BostonCard]

Your position is fair, but there is a risk of rush to judgment as well.  I think it would be a big setback to the people who work hard to uncover potential fraud if it resulted in the high profile dismissal of a still well-regarded scientist that later didn't pan out.  I think you take the allegations seriously, and, in an ideal world, you have the leader step aside until everything is sorted out.  But if all it takes to fire a university president is a cloud of suspicion, then you will live under constant fear that someone, somewhere, will find something in someone's past.

I've authored enough papers with enough people where if you put a gun to my head, I would not be able to tell you with 100% confidence that there is nothing problematic in any of them.  The best I can offer is that I have not falsified any data, and that I did reasonable due diligence to make sure that everything added up.  But part of working in a team of people with complimentary skills means that at some point, you have to trust that people with specialized skills that I don't possess are on the up and up.  It's just a fact of life in complicated scientific projects these days.

BC