Court Orders Harvard's Investigative Report in Francesca Gino v. Harvard Largely Unsealed

The quick backstory on the litigation, from my "Scholar of Dishonesty Accused of Research Dishonesty Sues for Libel, Claiming Accusers Were Dishonest" post last year:

Prof. Francesca Gino, a celebrated scholar studying dishonesty, was recently put on unpaid leave by Harvard, based on allegations that she had fabricated data in her studies; the allegations had been raised and discussed by three professors who run Data Colada (Uri Simonsohn of ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Leif Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley, and Joseph Simmons of the University of Pennsylvania). Yesterday [Aug. 2, 2023], in Gino v. Harvard Univ., Gino sued Harvard for employment law violations (basically, discrimination and breach of contract) and both Harvard and Data Colada for libel….

Today, Judge Myong Joun (D. Mass.) concluded that "[t]he final report of the Harvard Business School investigation committee" dealing with the underlying controversy "is a judicial record, to which there exists a presumptive right of public access," and that the presumption wasn't rebutted (except that "the plaintiff's private health information, as well as the names and identifying information of third-party witnesses" may be redacted).

Congratulations to Katie Townsend (Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press) and Robert A. Bertsche (Klaris Law PPLC), who argued in favor of unsealing. Their motions to intervene and unseal (filed on behalf of the Reporters Committee) were denied as moot, but just because the court itself decided to largely deny the motions to seal, and I expect that the motions may have played a role in influencing the court's decision.

Comments

[Jonathansingletary]

Eugene, I would like to have seen some more wordplay in today’s headline to match the original, but maybe you have a daily quota (re: the SCA post)?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

It would be hard to beat the own goal of the case itself, or the headline of Prof Volokh's original post.

[AmosArch]

The backstory for this is fascinating as well as the parade of other recent scam artists at Harvard and other so called prestigious schools.

[Lukitto]

As for me, this case has gained too much publicity here, Harvard is too famous an institution to react like this. But this does not negate the fact that education there has now slightly decreased in quality. My friend even had to use professional resume writing services after graduation because almost no one wanted to hire him with a Harvard degree. But that's the university's business, and I think they need to be more concerned about getting back to a high level of education. And all these things will pass in time.