‘Most important battle in our lives’: 11 Chinese university students overthrow professor accused of faking data
- Supervisor dismissed after investigation which began with student allegations of fabricated data and manipulated peer reviews
- Whistle-blowers were ready to lose their diplomas but felt they had to act, despite power imbalance in China’s universities
“For us, this is the most important battle in our ordinary lives,” wrote doctoral student Zhang Li, in a post to social media platform Weibo on January 23.
For more than a month, he and 10 other students at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, had been quietly preparing a “revolution” to overthrow their supervisor.
HAZU found that 10 papers listing Huang as corresponding author contained falsified data, while a textbook he edited and published used other people’s content without attribution. The book has been suspended from use.
He was also found to have misused funds and lacked due diligence as a tutor. All 15 students in his lab have been reassigned to new supervisors, according to HAZU.
The decision to blow the whistle on Huang paid off, but such accusations are rare in China, where the power imbalance between students and their supervisors is marked.