Why A Lawsuit

Suing Harvard

Harvard has ruined my career, wrongfully. Most in the academic community falsely believe I have committed fraud. Had Harvard followed the process it promised in its preexisting policy or applied correctly the new policy they created for me, I would have been cleared of these charges. Not only because I did not commit these misdeeds, but also because no fair process could conclude, based on the evidence, that I had. 

The only way to right this wrong is for me to sue Harvard. That was a difficult decision for me to make. But for my family and my future, I had no choice. 

Suing Data Colada

The decision to sue Data Colada was more difficult. Anyone should be free to challenge academic work, and free to try to show its flaws, or worse, fraud, without fear of litigation. I have long admired Data Colada’s work in this respect. I have particularly respected its commitment to sharing any negative findings with the author before going public with the charges. 

Yet in my case, Data Colada too changed its procedure. Rather than approach me with the “evidence” it had collected, Data Colada went straight to my employer without giving me an opportunity to address the errata they found. And when they then released their charges publicly, they once again did not give me the chance to address them in advance. Data Colada earned its reputation by representing itself as fair and unbiased in its review of academic work. They expressly state that they ”share ahead of time a draft with” the authors who work they discuss, then “ask for feedback.” Yet in my case, without proper justification, they deviated from that promise.

What Data Colada wrote about my work is false and defamatory. That alone would not have led me to bring them into this suit. But when they went behind my back to accuse me to my employer of the worst kind of fraud, in violation of their own stated procedure and in reckless disregard for actual facts, they became a critical cause of the harm that I have suffered.