Harvard University has recently officially revoked the tenured professorship of Francesca Gino from the Business School and terminated her employment, marking the first case of a tenured position being revoked due to academic misconduct since the implementation of the tenure system in the 1940s.
According to The Harvard Crimson, Gino, known for her research on honesty and ethical behavior, was suspended in 2023 due to multiple allegations of data manipulation. She was one of the most prominent professors at Harvard, with salaries exceeding one million dollars in both 2018 and 2019, ranking as the fifth highest paid faculty member at the university.
Gino joined the Harvard Business School in 2010 and was accused of falsifying research papers by the integrity research site Data Colada in 2021, leading to the retraction of related papers the same year. In 2022, a formal investigation lasting 18 months was initiated by the Harvard Business School. Later that year, Data Colada once again accused her of falsifying data in three papers, sparking further controversy.
In June 2023, following the investigation by the Harvard Business School, Gino was found to have engaged in academic misconduct, resulting in the revocation of her named chair and suspension of her teaching duties. In July of the same year, at the request of the Dean of the Business School, Srikant Datar, Harvard University launched a formal review of her tenured position.
Boston Public Media WGBN reported, citing insiders, that the Harvard Corporation made a final decision in early May 2025 to revoke Gino’s tenured position, a statement later confirmed by a university spokesperson.
In August 2023, Gino filed a lawsuit against Harvard University, Dean Datar, and the three founders of Data Colada, seeking $25 million in damages, alleging defamation and accusing the school of modifying the “academic misconduct policy” without due process.
Although the defamation charges were dismissed by a U.S. federal judge in September 2024, she was allowed to continue litigation regarding breach of contract and tenured rights. She subsequently added allegations of gender discrimination and violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Gino also launched a public relations counterattack, writing to all faculty members in September 2023 to proclaim her innocence and accusing Harvard and Data Colada of collaborating to destroy her reputation on her personal website. She wrote, “To watch my academic career crumble before my eyes, my reputation in ruins, is heartbreaking.”
As of now, neither Gino nor her legal team has publicly responded to the revocation of her tenured position.