INDEX
Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Police Record, Page 2
Student Life, Page 9
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
On Fire, Page 11
THE EMORY WHEEL Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University
Friday, January 17, 2014
www.emorywheel.com
MEDICINE
FUN AT THE FARMERS MARKET
Volume 95, Issue 26 Every Tuesday and Friday ACTIVISM
Rabbi Broyde to Stay Employed
Emory Opposes Israel Boycott
By Naomi Maisel Senior Staff Writer
By Harmeet Kaur Senior Staff Writer
Emory Professor of Law and Senior Fellow Michael Broyde was acquitted of the charge that he violated Emory University Policies regarding research misconduct when he was discovered to have been using a fake online identity to tout his academic writings this past April. Wheel The reported in April Michael 2013 that Broyde used the fake iden- Broyde, tity of an invented professor of Rabbi Hershel law and Goldwasser to senior publish in scholarly journals and fellow praise his own work. The article added that Broyde used Goldwasser’s name to obtain access to the listserv of the International Rabbinic Fellowship, a rival rabbinic group to Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), of which Broyde was a member. Broyde was initially caught when the Emory University Internet Protocol (IP) address of Goldwasser’s articles proved to be the same as Broyde’s computer at Emory. The University assembled a special Institutional Review and Investigation Committee to review Broyde’s conduct in accordance with the University’s regulations, according to a Dec. 2013 University press
of the Office of Research Compliance Kristin West. “We’ve done everything that we are supposed to do under our policy and under federal regulations,” West told Retraction Watch in 2011. The student movement #EmoryCuts tweeted earlier this month about Alexander stepping down from his position and described the retractions as “highly credible accusations of fraud.” In June, members of the School of Medicine gathered in a ceremony to honor Alexander at which University President James W. Wagner gave a speech. “Someone [like Dr. Alexander] reputed for their humane values — not only toward patients, but toward coworkers, colleagues, those for whom he works and those who work for him,” Wagner said at the event.
University President James W. Wagner released a statement on behalf of Emory University last month opposing academic boycotts of Israeli academic institutions, saying that such boycotts would violate the right of university faculty to academic freedom. The statement comes after the American Studies Association (ASA) adopted a resolution to participate in an academic boycott of Israeli institutions. The ASA, a national academic organization that supports the study of American culture and history, states on its website that this boycott entails refusing to enter into formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions and their official representatives. The ASA will not refuse collaborations with Israeli scholars, students and cultural workers as part of the boycott. Emory Hillel Program Director Meira Kreuter sent out an email to the group’s mailing list stating the organization’s opposition to the ASA boycott, calling it “misguided at best, and anti-Semitic at worst.” The email provided a list of 18 Georgia professors and graduate students who reportedly voted in favor of the ASA boycott. However, many of those identified denied being a member of the ASA and Anna Julia Cooper, a prominent AfricanAmerican scholar mentioned in the email, actually died in 1964. The membership directory for the ASA is only available to ASA members, and voting records for
— Contact Rupsha Basu at rupsha.basu@emory.edu
See SOME, Page 5
Law Prof. Acquitted in Investigation
See BROYDE, Page 5
James Crissman/Photo Editor
S
tudents such as College junior Brian Diener (left) and College senior Blake Mayes (right) enjoyed the Emory Farmers Market on the Cox Hall bridge. The market featured fresh, local produce and artisan products and is open to the community every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market is sponsored by the Office of Sustainable Initiatives in cooperation with Emory Dining.
MEDICINE
School of Medicine Lab Retracts Six Papers By Rupsha Basu Asst. News Editor A cardiology lab at Emory School of Medicine retracted three academic papers last semester, the blog Retraction Watch reported in the fall. The lab retracted one in November and two in December, bringing the group’s total to six retracted papers since April 2011. University investigations in 2011 led to the first three retractions, according to the blog, which is run by former editors of medical journals and covers paper retractions. R. Wayne Alexander was in charge the lab before he stepped down as chair of the Department of Medicine in June 2013 after 14 years. Alexander, however, remains on Emory’s faculty in the Division of Cardiology. Emory University’s Investigation Committee conducted the investi-
gation and found falsified images that misrepresented data, according to the notice of retraction published by the American Heart Association’s
Circulation Research. The committee reported that School of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellow Lian Zuo, a co-author of the papers, is to blame for the data misrepresentations. In April 2011, following the first three retractions, Zuo admitted to University officials that he had fabricated data for an article published in Circulation Research. However, the Emory University Investigation Committee “was unable to attribute responsibility for the image manipulation to any specific individual” for the most recent retractions, Retraction Watch reported. Moreover, Zuo is not a co-author on any of the recent papers. The Emory University Investigation Committee worked
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
with the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), wrote Vincent Dollard, associate vice president for Health Sciences Communication, in an email to the Wheel. “The Committee determined that retraction letters were warranted, and the Committee’s final report was accepted by ORI,” Dollard said. Dollard said the University declined to speak further on the subject. The ORI is an organization under the United States Department of Health and Human Services that oversees and investigates research integrity on behalf of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to Retraction Watch, the involvement of ORI suggests that federal funding was involved with the articles in question. Retraction Watch confirmed this information in 2011 with Emory’s Associate Vice President and Director
STUDENT LIFE
CANDLER CONSTRUCTION
Bubble to Test Next Version in Spring
SGA Overfunded Groups Due to Accounting Error This article, published online on Dec. 19, was written by Jordan Friedman. Due to an accounting error, the Student Government Association (SGA) unintentionally overfunded all four University-wide organizations — the Student Programming Council (SPC), Media Council, Outdoor Emory Organization and Club Sports — as well as its own administrative and Business Office staff salary accounts for two years by a total of about $212,000, student government leaders said last week. Each of the University-wide organizations either partially or fully repaid SGA this semester, following agreements they made with SGA last spring soon after the error was discovered. The extra money allocated into SGA’s salary and administrative accounts was also repaid, said Meredith Honeycutt, SGA business manager. The money that SGA allocates to different accounts — including those affected by the error — comes from the $89 that all undergraduate and graduate students pay as part of their tuition each semester. According to Wheel interviews with SGA officials and an SGA statement released to students via email last Thursday, the accounting error occurred about two years ago, when SGA started using PeopleSoft
SEE INSIDE Staff editorial reaction to the accounting error and solution. See Page 6. Compass, software that allows SGA to manage its finances. A certain financial process that had been completed automatically with the previous software had to be done manually with Compass, Honeycutt said. When staff in the SGA Business Office began manually inputting the information, an incorrect account code was entered into the system. As a result, for the next two years, money that was supposed to remain in SGA’s University-wide contingency account — which is used for SGA-sponsored events and supplemental funding for student clubs — was dispersed to each Universitywide organization, as well as SGA’s accounts for its administrative budget and SGA Business Office salaries, said College senior Calvin Lee, SGA vice president for finance. Therefore, these parties received more money than they were supposed to under the Student Activity Fee split, which is used to distribute the students’ $89. Under the current fee split, SGA allocates fixed percentages of funds
See ACCOUNTING, Page 4
By Lydia O’Neal Senior Staff Writer James Crissman/Photo Editor
her whistleblower activity, including reporting her concerns with clinical trials conducted at Georgia Regents, which was formerly known as the Medical College of Georgia. She later
The tech startup Emory Bubble plans to test its latest version of emorybubble.com, known as Bubble Beta, at Emory schools and other Georgia universities this spring, according to Campus Bubble Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Spencer Barkoff (’13B). The upcoming version, referred to by the company’s founders as “Bubble Next,” is set for full launch as an official Emory communication platform — completely replacing Learnlink — at the start of the fall 2014 semester. Campus Bubble, an academic networking startup led by recent Emory graduates and created in an Emory dorm, combines the functions of communication systems like Learnlink, Facebook, Office 365, Blackboard and Google Docs. Early last fall, the company released the third version of its central component, Emory Bubble, with
See ABREU-VELEZ, Page 5
See CAMPUS, Page 3
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tudents walk past Phase II of construction on the Candler School of Theology. The new addition is scheduled to be finished in July of 2014 and will house the Pitts Theology Library, study rooms, a classroom, a teaching chapel and some gallery space.
LEGAL
Lawsuit Claims Emory, Georgia Regents Tried to Damage Employee’s Reputation By Jordan Friedman Executive Editor Ana Abreu-Velez, a former Emory postdoctoral fellow, is suing Emory University and Georgia Regents University. In her complaint, she alleges that officials and employees at the schools conspired to damage her reputation after she exposed safety and legality issues with clinical trials conducted at Georgia Regents.
Representatives from both schools strongly deny the claims, saying they are without merit. In the 24-page lawsuit, filed Dec. 18 and obtained by the Wheel, AbreuVelez alleges that the retaliation against her involved attempting to thwart the renewal of her green card and planning attacks on her family and property. Abreu-Velez claims in the lawsuit that this conspiracy resulted from
NEXT FRIDAY’S ISSUE An update on the Erik Butler discrimination lawsuit.
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