Why Do Colleges Rarely Revoke Tenure?

Harvard just did something it hasn’t done in decades — it fired a tenured professor.

Francesca Gino built her reputation studying honesty. Then she was accused of faking data. In May, Harvard’s top governing board revoked her tenure and ousted her from the Business School.

But why is stripping tenure so rare — not just at Harvard, but anywhere? How common is research fraud? And why are colleges so secretive when it happens?

College Uncovered’s Kirk Carapezza and reporter Mark Herz unpack the Gino case. Then Kirk sits down with science journalist and attorney Eugenie Reich, author of Plastic Fantastic: How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World.

“College Uncovered” is made possible by Lumina Foundation.

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Credits:

Host and Producer: Kirk Carapezza

Editor: Jenifer McKim

Executive Producer: Lee Hill

Mixing and Sound Design: David Goodman & Gary Mott

Theme Song and original music: Left-Roman

Artwork: Matt Welch

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Consulting Producer and Head of GBH Podcasts: Devin Maverick Robins

"College Uncovered" is a production of GBH News and The Hechinger Report.