THE SCANDALOUS

Harvard’s ‘Appalling’ Double Standard: Claudine Gay vs. Francesca Gino

Before the social media frenzy over allegations that the president of Harvard University was a plagiarist, there was a little-noticed task quietly completed by President Claudine Gay in her office in Massachusetts Hall.

Gay personally signed off on the paperwork that launched a tenure revocation process for embattled Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino who, like Gay, was accused of research misconduct. At the request of Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar, Gay did so just as reporters for the New York Post contacted Harvard for comment on a story the newspaper planned to run about the allegations that Gay had plagiarized the work of other scholars. Harvard immediately lawyered up, threatened to sue the Post for defamation, and vigorously and wrongly defended Gay without conducting a full investigation of the charges. The newspaper initially held the story back.

Harvard Business School’s Damning Unsealed Report On Francesca Gino

Harvard Business School today (March 14) provided a rare behind-the-scenes look at an investigation into allegations of research fraud by one of its superstar professors, Francesca Gino. The 1,300-page report by a three-member investigation committee was unsealed for the public to read.

Read more of P&Q’s coverage of the Francesca Gino Harvard scandal here.

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UNC Kenan-Flagler Prof: B-School Secretly Recorded My Classes

An economics professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School says school officials secretly recorded at least four of his undergraduate business school classes, a move he contends violates Kenan-Flagler’s own policy.

Larry Chavis, clinical professor of strategy and entrepreneurship who has worked at Kenan-Flagler for 18 years, tells Poets&Quants that he suspects the recordings are in retaliation for publicly criticizing the school on issues such as faculty diversity and pay equity.

Interview: The Professor Who Was Secretly Recorded — Then Let Go — By UNC

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is not renewing the contract of an economics professor whose classes were secretly recorded in April in response to student complaints about course content.

Larry Chavis told Poets&Quants this week that he received a letter from Kenan-Flagler Business School dean Mary Margaret Frank notifying him that his yearly contract, which ends on June 30, would not be renewed. Chavis has taught at the B-school for 18 years.

Former Kenan-Flagler Professor Who Was Secretly Recorded Sues UNC

Larry Chavis, a former clinical professor of economics at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the university following notice that his one-year contract would not be renewed.

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Harvard MBA Alum Calls Out Bro Culture In Finance

With 14.9 million views on TikTok and another 4.5 million on X, Kristen Jones Miller has clearly tapped into the gestalt of bro culture. Miller, an entrepreneur who earned her MBA from Harvard Business School in 2014, offers up her view of the male hierarchy in finance, opining on the date-ability of men who work in investment banking, hedge funds, private equity and venture capital.

She should know these bros well. Miller not only went to school with many of them; she’s also the co-founder of Mented, a multi-million dollar cosmetics brand celebrating the beauty of diversity, where she currently serves as brand president. Three months ago, a private equity firm, West Lane Capital Partners, acquired Mented.

Her TikTok video has generated a massive number of comments on X, some affirming her view of the financial sector and others taking issue with her motivations.

“As a graduate of Harvard Business School,” she begins in the video, “I was surrounded by every manner of finance man. In the spirit of sisterhood, I will be now breaking down for you the finance bro hierarchy.”

At the bottom of the hierarchy are investment bankers. Now keep in mind this is a well-paid hierarchy so even though they are at the bottom, they are still well paid. The worst investment bankers, even at no-name banks, are going to pull in $250,000….and if he is doing his job well, or he is at a top-named bank like Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan, we’re talking about a million-plus. That’s the good news.

“What’s the bad news? You are never going to see this man. He is working 80 to 100 hours a week. Is it your birthday? It doesn’t matter. Oh, is it Christmas? No one cares. He is at work. This is the man to date if you want to be a NOBO.”

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B-Schools Withdraw MBA Acceptances In A GRE Cheating Scandal

Business schools have overturned acceptances to dozens of African MBA candidates after they were suspected of cheating on the virtual GRE. The cheating scandal on the at-home GRE test, introduced during the pandemic, has caused some MBA admission officials to lose confidence in the security measures put in place by the Educational Testing Service, the administrator of the GRE.

Several schools, ranging from Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business to the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, confirmed that they have overturned favorable admission decisions for MBA applicants from Africa, mainly Nigeria and Ghana. Those candidates would have started their MBA programs this fall. Admission officials told P&Q that they believe the tests were taken by someone other than the applicant who submitted the results and that ETS’ measures to secure the integrity of the exam failed.

Next page: Stories from the 2024 classroom …

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