On the same day the story was published, the university started an investigation in Tessier-Lavigne research and seven years of alleged scientific misconduct detailed in a Stanford Daily article.
“It was pretty amazing,” said Stanford Daily editor-in-chief Sam Catania. “I can’t say I expected quick action from the board of trustees.” But the start of the investigation, he said, “just became another news event for us.” Baker continued to cover the story, revealing possible image manipulation in additional documents co-authored with Tessier-Lavigne. He also reported calls to the university president resign And expansion of the group of persons which will investigate allegations of scientific misconduct. (You can read all of Stanford Daily's coverage. Here.)
On February 17, three days before the announcement of the Polk Prize winners, Baker published another big story revealing allegations that Tessier-Lavigne failed to disclose falsified data in a 2009 paper that identified a potential cause of brain degeneration in Alzheimer's patients (on which he was senior author).
According to Baker, his only personal communication with Tessier-Lavigne was brief. He contacted the university president shortly after emailing him asking for comment on a story about an alleged cover-up of falsified data on Alzheimer's disease. “I walked up to him and just said, ‘Hi,’ and he said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah. I received your letter. I look forward to connecting with you. I'm in a hurry.
“I started to say something and he closed the car door in the middle of my sentence,” Baker continued. “And, of course, he didn’t answer us. His lawyer did it.”
Shortly after the Alzheimer's case was published, Tessier-Lavigne sent a letter Stanford Faculty and Staff criticized the student newspaper's reporting, calling it “full of lies.”
Tessier-Lavigne's letter reinforced Baker's belief that his stories would never have been published if the Stanford Daily had not been an organization operating outside the control of an academic institution. (This year the paper marks the 50th anniversary of its independence from the university.) “The stakes are too high,” Baker said. “The person we write about is literally responsible for all of us.”
Both the reporter and the editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily dodged questions about what impact their investigation might have on Tessier-Lavigne's tenure as university president.
“We just want to get the facts out and do it right. That's what's most important to us,” Catania said. “You know, whatever happens, if at the end of the day we were honest, accurate and thorough. In my opinion, it would be 'mission accomplished' on the Daily's part.”
For his part, Baker said he just wants to “get to the bottom of what happened.” He added: “I'm trying not to think too much about what's going to happen based on all of this. What I spent most of my time thinking about was making sure we get it right and making sure we make it as complete as possible. I'm not in charge of making judgments; other people will come to their own conclusions. So my only job here is to just keep going and figure out what's really out there.”
