Harvard University revoked tenure from Francesca Gino, a Harvard Business School professor, ending her employment with the institution last week. Gino had been contesting allegations of data fraud for nearly 4 years. The final decision was made earlier this month by the Harvard Corporation, according to WGBH, which first reported the action.
The revocation marked the first known instance of a tenured faculty member losing tenure at Harvard since the 1940s, when rules protecting academic tenure were formalized. The decision concluded Gino’s 2-year effort to retain her faculty position following findings of research misconduct.
Gino, a behavioral scientist who focused on research involving honesty and ethical behavior, was previously recognized as a prominent scholar in her field. She was among Harvard’s highest-paid employees in 2018 and 2019: her total compensation each year was more than $1 million.
The allegations against Gino first emerged in August 2021, when the academic blog Data Colada alleged that a paper she coauthored contained fraudulent data. That paper was retracted in September 2021. In 2022, Harvard Business School (HBS) initiated an 18-month internal investigation, which ultimately concluded that Gino had committed academic misconduct. In June 2023, HBS Dean Srikant M. Datar placed Gino on unpaid administrative leave, barred her from campus, and revoked her named professorship. That same month, Data Colada published additional allegations of data fraud in three other coauthored papers.
In July 2023, Harvard University began formal tenure review proceedings at Dean Datar’s request. The following month, Gino filed a $25 million lawsuit alleging that Harvard University, Dean Datar, and Data Colada bloggers—Uri Simonsohn, Leif D. Nelson, and Joseph P. Simmons—conspired to defame her.
The suit also challenged a policy enacted by HBS in August 2021 following the initial allegations. According to court filings, Gino alleged the policy was created solely in response to her case. The policy, which was neither announced to faculty nor vetted through the usual process, expanded the definition of research misconduct and stated that violations could “be subject to sanctions up to and including termination.”
In September 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun dismissed Gino’s defamation claims but allowed her contract-based claims to proceed. Those claims assert that Harvard imposed disciplinary actions in violation of its tenure policies. In October 2024, Gino filed a motion to amend her lawsuit to include Title VII and discrimination claims.
Gino publicly defended her position throughout the proceedings. In an email sent to HBS faculty in September 2023, she asserted her innocence and stated she intended “to right this wrong.” She also launched a personal website where she accused HBS of misconduct and of working with Data Colada to damage her reputation.
“It has been shattering to watch my career being decimated and my reputation completely destroyed,” Gino wrote on her website in October 2023.
Gino’s attorneys and representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the tenure revocation.
Source: The Harvard Crimson
