Law professor resigns from committee post
Published Feb. 13, 2007
Law professor Phillip Harter resigned as chairman of the MU Committee on Research Responsibility on Thursday. Harter's resignation came the same day it was announced that professor Michael Roberts and two other researchers were cleared on charges of misconduct stemming from a research article published in Science magazine last year.
Harter said his decision to resign was a result of the way MU handled the announcement that the researchers' charges were being dropped.
Harter said the university had known in mid-January that Roberts, a professor of animal science, and fellow researchers Mayandi Sivaguru and Hwan Yul Yong were cleared of misconduct charges.
Roberts received a letter from MU Provost Brian Foster on Jan. 17 informing him that the charges were being dropped.
Roberts was unavailable for comment at press time.
Harter said his resignation had nothing to do with the manner in which the investigation was carried out or any other discrepancies with the committee.
He said his decision to concede the post was "totally over confidentiality."
"I was out of step with them," Harter said. "I have a different view of government than they do. It seemed appropriate."
Harter said the way MU handled an open records request by the Missourian on Jan. 31 had further pushed him into his decision.
The committee responded to the Missourian's request by sending the local publication copies of electronic correspondence between members of the committee regarding the investigation.
The documents, including several names, facts and Harter's mention of Science magazine, received by the Missourian were significantly censored with black marker and photocopied before being made available to the publication.
"The Sunshine Law never requires confidentiality," he said.
The Sunshine Law is a set of regulations requiring governing bodies in the public sector to make meetings and meeting records open to the public unless otherwise provided. The law includes any discourse by electronic means, such as by telephone or e-mail.
The law outlines the specific instances when a meeting, record or vote can be closed, but stressed these exceptions are to be strictly interpreted to promote the public policy of openness, according to office of Attorney General Jay Nixon.
Harter said he does not regret his decision and that is important to "put it behind us and move on."
Allegations of misconduct by the three men and one other researcher, Kaushik Deb, were reported to Foster on April 25, 2006, because of their use of suspected doctored photos in a research report published in Science magazine on Feb. 17, 2006.
A researcher not affiliated with MU sent a letter to Science questioning the validity of images within the researchers' report, which discussed stem-cell research using mouse embryos.
"The university determined that there was not enough evidence available to file misconduct charges against two of the article's authors," MU spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken stated in a news release.
The researchers did not "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly" falsify the information used in the article, according to the release.
Deb is still under investigation for misconduct charges.
The Research Responsibility Committee was formed under the UM system Collected Rules and Regulations, which rules that each campus in the UM system must form a standing committee to review charges of research dishonesty.
At MU, the committee is made up of nine members representing various departments on campus.