Case in Point

May 14: AI: In February, Ella Stapleton, then a senior at Northeastern University, was reviewing lecture notes from her organizational behavior class when she noticed something odd. Was that a query to ChatGPT from her professor? Halfway through the document, which her business professor had made for a lesson on models of leadership, was an instruction to ChatGPT to "expand on all areas. Be more detailed and specific." It was followed by a list of positive and negative leadership traits, each with a prosaic definition and a bullet-pointed example. (link)

May 08: Cyberattack: Education giant Pearson suffered a cyberattack, allowing threat actors to steal corporate data and customer information, BleepingComputer has learned. Pearson is a UK-based education company and one of the world’s largest providers of academic publishing, digital learning tools, and standardized assessments. The company works with schools, universities, and individuals in over 70 countries through its print and online services. This stolen data allegedly contains customer information, financials, support tickets, and source code, with millions of people impacted. (link)

May 26: Research Misconduct: Harvard University revoked the tenure of [a] Harvard Business School professor after years of data fraud allegations, a university spokesperson confirmed. [The professor], widely known for researching honesty and ethical behavior, was placed on administrative leave in 2023 after multiple allegations of falsifying data surfaced. A spokesperson for Harvard provided no additional details, noting that it does not discuss personnel matters. No professors are known to have lost their tenure at Harvard since the 1940s, when the American Association of University Professors formalized rules of termination, according to The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper. (link)

May 16: Theft: A police pursuit of a man on a stolen golf cart led to an arrest and a bevy of charges. [A man], 46, of Toledo, was arrested after allegedly breaking into a UToledo building and stealing a golf cart from an apartment complex, police said. UToledo police said they responded to a man breaking into offices at Nitchske Hall, a UToledo Engineering building, just after 1:30 P.M. on Thursday. While investigating, UTPD said a stolen vehicle was found close by. (link)

May 07: Research Security: This summer, a CCP agent impersonated a Stanford student. Under the alias Charles Chen, he approached several students through social media. Anna*, a Stanford student conducting sensitive research on China, began receiving unexpected messages from Charles Chen. At first, Charles's outreach seemed benign: he asked about networking opportunities. But soon, his messages took a strange turn. Charles inquired whether Anna spoke Mandarin, then grew increasingly persistent and personal. He sent videos of Americans who had gained fame in China, encouraged Anna to visit Beijing, and offered to cover her travel expenses. (link)

May 01 : Plagiarism: A nationally known public health researcher is leaving her job next month at the University of Minnesota amid accusations of plagiarism. [Her] last day will be May 14, according to an email sent to faculty by School of Public Health Dean Melinda Pettigrew on Monday. The email did not state a reason for [the researcher]’s departure, and a spokesperson for the university said the U would not elaborate further. The announcement came four days after a former protégé and colleague posted on LinkedIn that [the researcher] poached her work and passed it off as her own. "When I say ‘verbatim’ I mean, she performed a find+replace in my document, and replaced all instances of ‘Mike Brown’ with ‘Philando Castile,’ and all instances of ‘St. Louis, Missouri’ with ‘Minneapolis, Minnesota,’ and submitted this to the NIH as if it were her own," wrote Brigette Davis, now a social epidemiologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. (link)

May 23: Federal Compliance: A federal judge granted Harvard a temporary restraining order in its suit to block the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke its authorization to enroll international students. The order was issued less than two hours after the University requested a halt to the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt on Thursday to end its Student Exchange and Visitor Program certification. Harvard had described the move as "unprecedented and retaliatory." The Thursday decision follows a long back-and-forth between Harvard and the DHS over international students, who have been targeted in the Trump administration’s accusations that Harvard has fostered antisemitism. (link)

May 21: Federal Compliance: The United States announced on Monday the formation of a new unit that will crack down on federally-funded universities that have diversity, equity and inclusion policies using a civil anti-fraud law, the Justice Department said in a memo. The creation of the "Civil Rights Fraud Initiative" marks the latest escalation by the administration of President Donald Trump against colleges and universities that it has claimed are pushing antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies. "A university that accepts federal funds could violate the False Claims Act when it encourages antisemitism, refuses to protect Jewish students, allows men to intrude into women's bathrooms or requires women to compete against men in athletic competitions," Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche wrote in the memo. (link)

May 19: Title IX: Utah Tech University says its investigation into the misconduct allegations against [the] former concluded with no "sustained findings." It’s a surprising result to come out of the Title IX review, which was launched in November 2023 after the then-president left a phallic gag gift for one of his administrators -- and signed it as if it were from lower-level employees. [The former president] has acknowledged that he was responsible for the display and that he now sees it "was not appropriate." But the outside team commissioned by the school determined that it did not amount to sexual harassment, according to the attorneys that represent Utah Tech. The Salt Lake Tribune had been fighting for public records on the investigation since first learning about it in May 2024. The university denied all requests. (link)

May 12: Employee Conduct: [The] Ohio State women’s basketball coach was charged with driving under the influence last week in Dublin, Ohio. According to a Dublin Police report, [the coach] was arrested last Tuesday evening in Dublin after a witness reported that a vehicle "struck several curbs and drove through the lawn of a residence." [He] failed multiple field sobriety tests at the scene, and he refused to give a breath sample to police. (link)

May 11: Employee Conduct: A University of Louisville doctor was arrested after police said they found child pornography on his phone. [The doctor] of Baltimore, Maryland, is charged with 20 counts of possession of matter with a sex performance of a minor between the ages of 12 and 18 and 10 counts of distribution of obscene material. According to court documents, police obtained a warrant to search [the doctor's] phone after they received a cyber tip about material depicting sexual performance by a minor sent electronically. UofL spokesperson John Karman said [the doctor] was immediately placed on leave once they were notified of his arrest, and the university is cooperating fully with the investigation. (link)

May 06: Lawsuit Settlement: Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian have agreed to pay $750 million to hundreds of women who were sexually abused by a former doctor who preyed upon patients at prestigious New York hospitals for two decades. The agreement brings to roughly $1 billion the amount paid for the wrongdoing of the doctor, Robert A. Hadden, coming after earlier settlements in which his former employers agreed to pay victims more than $200 million. Mr. Hadden was convicted of sex crimes in 2023. (link)

May 01: Lawsuit: Four current and former University of Texas at Austin students sued the college and Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday, alleging they faced unlawful arrest and retaliatory discipline for demonstrating against Israel's assault on Gaza. The lawsuit is among a wave of legal actions against U.S. universities, law enforcement and state leaders over their handling of pro-Palestinian student protests that erupted in the Spring of 2024. Filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) on behalf of the students, the lawsuit accuses UT Austin President Jay Hartzell, Abbott and law enforcement officers of intentionally suppressing pro-Palestinian speech at an April 24, 2024, campus protest. (link)

May 16: Free Speech: This report examines the efforts to investigate, censor, or otherwise discipline students at U.S. colleges and universities for expressive activity that is, or at a public institution would be, protected by the First Amendment. An analysis of these incidents documented in FIRE’s Students Under Fire database between 2020 and 2024 follows. (link)

May 12: Hazing: Penn State has placed the Acacia fraternity on an indefinite suspension following allegations of misconduct and hazing, effective May 7. An investigation was launched after receiving a credible report in February, including members needing medical care after forced tobacco and alcohol consumption, acts of servitude, and prolonged activities without rest. The fraternity was offered a path towards remediation, but the chapter declined and chose to withdraw recognition from the university. Despite this, the school determined the suspension was warranted because of the serious nature and lack of engagement. (link)

May 07: Campus Protests: About 80 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested on Wednesday evening after occupying part of the main library on Columbia University’s campus in an attempt to rekindle the protest movement that swept the campus last spring, the police said Thursday morning. The protesters, wearing masks and kaffiyehs, had burst through a security gate shortly after 3 p.m. and hung banners in the soaring main room of Butler Library’s second floor, renaming the space "the Basel Al-Araj Popular University," according to the demonstrators and witnesses at the library. (link)

May 06: Campus Protests: More than 25 people were arrested after a group occupied an academic building at the University of Washington, demanding the school sever ties with Boeing as the war in Gaza continues, according to the university and a spokesperson for the group. A group called Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return claimed it was behind the takeover, with a spokesperson telling ABC News that all of the people who entered the building were arrested. About 30 people were arrested on charges that included trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct, Victor Balta, a university spokesperson and assistant vice president for communications, said in a statement. (link)

May 01: Campus Climate: A Harvard task force released a scathing account of the university on Tuesday, finding that antisemitism had infiltrated coursework, social life, the hiring of some faculty members and the worldview of certain academic programs. A separate report on anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias on campus, also released on Tuesday, found widespread discomfort and alienation among those students as well, with 92 percent of Muslim survey respondents saying they believed they would face an academic or professional penalty for expressing their political opinions. (link)