…in the felony case, university officials hid an internal investigation of the fraud from federal investigators for nearly four years..
Source: The University of Minnesota’s Medical Research Mess – NYTimes.com
I commented.
The author “…hope[s] the situation at..Minnesota..is exceptional…” It’s not. Nor is money an exceptional motivation. Ego and prestige work just as well. I know. I’m a former math professor.
I have taught at an “elite” school and at a state regional school. In both instances, I have seen outrageous unethical behavior. I have seen:
students fooled that they were getting an education;
a young professor’s reputation attacked by established professors who wanted to quiet the young professor – while they stole his groundbreaking work;
professors grant totally unwarranted doctorates – only so they could bring in grant money to meet a critical “national need” for American math PhDs.
It goes on from there.
The problem of the capture of higher education by scoundrels comes from the free ride we give people in academics, thinking that they are seekers of truth. Some are, but as I tell my students, people who seek truth as a career are not necessarily truthful people.
It takes an inside observer to see all the dots, but then it is easy to connect them. That’s why I write a blog inside-higher-ed . That is where you will find the documented story of how and why students get fooled (A Tale Out of School), or the documented story of “The Purloined Proof”.
It is time people outside the academy become outraged. It ‘s not a parochial phenomena. As the op-ed above this one tells, it effects all of us. (The connection is made clear on my site.)
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