Harvard University fired a professor accused of falsifying data related to her research on ethical behavior, the first time the Ivy League institution has dismissed a tenured instructor since rules for academic protections were formalized.
The historic decision to revoke Francesca Gino’s tenure follows a Harvard investigation into allegations she falsified data used in research papers focused on dishonesty. The university’s investigation concluded last year that the Harvard Business School professor “engaged in multiple instances of research misconduct” in four separate research papers.
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On Tuesday, the university confirmed Gino’s employment had been terminated after Harvard initially put her on administrative leave in 2023. It is the first time in over 80 years that a tenured professor has been fired from the university, which first established academic protections for instructors in 1940. Revoking tenure at any academic institution occurs only rarely and is difficult to carry out.
Gino became a full professor in 2014 and headed the Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets Unit from 2018 to 2021, according to the Guardian. During her time at Harvard Business School, she was seen as a world-renowned scholar, presenting her research at multiple conferences and distributing her work to high-profile outlets such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and NBC News.
Gino has proclaimed her innocence since first coming under scrutiny in 2021. At the time, an investigation blog, Data Colada, accused her of creating fraudulent data in a paper she co-authored. That paper was later retracted, according to the Harvard Crimson, which reported that the university launched an investigation into the professor following Data Colada’s revelations. The inquiry concluded Gino was guilty of academic misconduct and the professor was placed on unpaid leave.
Data Colada has also accused Gino of publishing fraudulent data in three other research papers.
Gino established a website proclaiming her innocence after the allegations broke.
“The information that has been available to the public, and the analysis posted by critics, may sound compelling,” she wrote in a statement in September 2023. “But the information is incomplete and misleading. The record needs to be corrected. This website is my attempt to do so.”
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“Let that correction begin with this simple and unambiguous statement: I absolutely did not commit academic fraud,” Gino continued.
When Harvard opened a review of Gino’s tenure, she filed a $25 million lawsuit against the school, Harvard Business School Dean Srikant M. Datar, and the Data Colada bloggers. The researcher alleged they conspired to defame her.