Harvard Professor’s Defamation Claim Tossed by Federal Judge

Harvard University defeated claims that it defamed a business school professor by publicizing her administrative leave and contacting her colleagues about anomalies in her data, but must still face her breach of contract allegations.

Francesca Gino brought a $25 million lawsuit against Harvard in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, over the alleged harm the university did to her reputation after an investigation concluded that she committed research misconduct.

Retraction notices the university sent to journals she had been published in “do not directly accuse Professor Gino of data fraud, and they disclose at length” Harvard’s basis ...