The identical day because the story’s publication, the college launched an investigation into Tessier-Lavigne’s analysis and the seven years of alleged scientific misconduct detailed within the Stanford Each day’s story.
“It was fairly astonishing,” Stanford Each day editor-in-chief Sam Catania stated. “I can’t say I used to be anticipating the board of trustees to behave rapidly.” However the launch of the investigation, he stated, “simply turned one other information occasion for us.” Baker continued to cowl the story, revealing attainable picture manipulation in further papers coauthored by Tessier-Lavigne. He additionally reported on requires the college president to step down and the growth of the group of people who can be investigating the allegations of scientific misconduct. (You possibly can learn all the Stanford Each day’s protection right here.)
On Feb. 17, three days earlier than the Polk Award winners have been introduced, Baker revealed one other large story revealing accusations that Tessier-Lavigne had didn’t make public findings of falsified information in a 2009 paper that recognized a possible explanation for mind degeneration in Alzheimer’s sufferers (for which he was senior writer).
His one in-person interplay with Tessier-Lavigne was transient, Baker stated. He approached the college president shortly after sending him an e-mail requesting remark for the story in regards to the alleged cover-up of the falsified Alzheimer’s information. “I walked as much as him. I simply stated, ‘Hello,’ and he stated, “Oh sure, sure. I’ve acquired your letter. I look ahead to being in contact. I’m in a rush.’
“I began to say one thing, and he closed his automotive door in the midst of my sentence,” Baker continued. “And naturally, he didn’t get again to us. His lawyer did.”
Quickly after the publication of the Alzheimer’s story, Tessier-Lavigne despatched a letter to Stanford college and workers attacking the coed paper’s reporting, calling it “replete with falsehoods.”
Tessier-Lavigne’s letter solidified Baker’s conviction that his tales would by no means have been revealed if the Stanford Each day weren’t a corporation working exterior the management of the educational establishment. (The paper celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its independence from the college this 12 months.) “The stakes are simply too excessive,” Baker stated. “The person who we’re writing about is actually in control of all of us.”
Each the Stanford Each day reporter and editor-in-chief draw back from questions in regards to the affect that their investigation might need on Tessier-Lavigne’s tenure because the college’s president.
“We simply need to report the info and we need to get it proper. That’s what’s most necessary to us,” Catania stated. “You understand, no matter occurs, if on the finish of the day, we have been honest, we have been correct, and we have been thorough. To me, that shall be ‘mission completed’ on the a part of the Each day.”
For his half, Baker stated he simply needs to get “to the underside of precisely what occurred.” He added, “I strive to not suppose an excessive amount of about what’s going to occur primarily based on all of this. The factor that I’ve spent essentially the most time fascinated about is ensuring we get it proper, and ensuring we get it as complete as attainable. I’m not in control of making the judgments; different folks will come to their conclusions. So my solely job right here is simply to maintain going and determine what’s truly there.”
