Two notable departures from top universities this month have a common link: inquisitive student journalists.
The president of Stanford University, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, announced Wednesday that he will resign his position and withdraw three decades-old research papers, after an independent review of his scientific work was prompted by coverage in the campus newspaper, The Stanford Daily.
Last week, Northwestern University fired its head football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, after its student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, reported that his players engaged in hazing rituals.
The back-to-back revelations underscored the important role college newspapers play in holding the powerful institutions that own them to account.
“I think it’s pretty clear that without our reporting, this report wouldn’t have come around,” said Theo Baker, the investigative editor of The Stanford Daily.
Mr. Baker, 18, reappeared in an article on Nov. 29 for The Stanford Daily are the neuroscience research papers in which Dr. is listed. Tessier-Lavigne as chief author or co-author changed the image. The claims have been repeated over the years on PubPeer, a website that allows scientists to discuss research.
The next day, Stanford University opened an investigation into Dr. Tessier-Lavigne with a panel of external scientists. Their report, released Wednesday, found that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne “did not personally engage in research misconduct” for the 12 papers reviewed by the panel, but some of the papers showed manipulated research data by members of her labs and that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne did not take adequate steps to correct the record.
But their report pushed a claim made by The Stanford Daily in February that a 2009 Alzheimer’s research paper Dr. Tessier-Lavigne wrote that when he was an executive at the biotech company Genentech he was the subject of an internal review that found falsified data and that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne has it covered. Dr. refused. Tessier-Lavigne those statements.
“That allegation, as Genentech says, appears to be erroneous,” the panel’s report said, though it cited “numerous problems” with the 2009 study.
Kaushikee Nayudu, the editor-in-chief and president of The Stanford Daily, said in a statement Wednesday that the newspaper stood by its reporting.
“The Daily never reported that Marc Tessier-Lavigne was personally engaged in manipulating the research,” he said. “We had access to different information and sources than the panel, acknowledging that they did not provide anonymity to the sources. It is possible that different conclusions could be reached based on these process differences.”
Mr. refused. Baker to comment on the criticism of the report. But in a article published Wednesday after the review was released, Mr. Baker reported that some witnesses refused to speak to the Stanford panel because they were not guaranteed anonymity and that the panel was aware of additional allegations that were not included in the final report.
Mr. Baker is the son of The New York Times chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, and Susan B. Glasser, a writer for The New Yorker. In February, he became the youngest recipient of a Polk Award for his investigation of Dr. Tessier-Lavigne.
“More than anything else, to me, it should raise conversations about the value of student journalism,” Mr. Baker said. “If you love a place, and I really love Stanford,” he added, “you want to push it to be more transparent.”
At Northwestern, student reporting has uncovered a hazing scandal in its football program. An articlewritten by Nicole Markus, Alyce Brown, Cole Reynolds and Divya Bhardwaj on July 8, reported the extent of hazing allegations against university football players, including forced nudity and forced sexual acts, and showed how the university mishandled its hazing investigation, putting Mr. Fitzgerald, the coach, to a suspension of only two weeks.
Two days later, reporters followed an article on the racist culture in the football program. Mr. Fitzgerald then fired That day. (Mr. Fitzgerald said in a statement to ESPN at the time that he was “surprised” and that his agent and attorney “will take the necessary steps to protect my rights in accordance with the law.”)
The students’ investigation led to a case against Northwestern and Mr. Fitzgerald filed Tuesday by a former Northwestern football player who claims he was subjected to hazing, physical abuse and racial discrimination.