Education

Scholar Involved In Hoax Study On Rape Culture And Sexual Activity Of Dogs Says University Is Trying To Punish Him

Left, SHUTTERSTOCK/Monika Chodak / Right, Screenshot/ YouTube via Mike Nayna

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Neetu Arnold Contributor
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A professor involved with handing in hoax papers — with topics ranging from rape culture in dog parks to rewriting a feminist version of a portion of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” — to leading social science journals says his university in Oregon is trying to punish him.

Portland State University (PSU) assistant philosophy professor Peter Boghossian is being investigated for falsifying data, according to a YouTube video released by Mike Nayna on Saturday.

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“The matter has been escalated to PSU’s President & Provost for disciplinary action,” according to the YouTube video.

Boghossian along with mathematician James Lindsey and Areo Magazine editor Helen Pluckrose sent 20 papers under aliases to social science journals to show the reality of “grievance studies.” Grievance studies is a coined term for academic fields that focus on identity related oppression and power imbalances. Such fields include “critical theory,” “gender studies” and “identity studies.”

Feminist journal Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work and Gender, Place & Culture were two of the journals that accepted the researchers’ papers. The journals ended up removing the research upon finding out they were fake. (RELATED: Dartmouth Rolls Out Sexual Harassment Plan After Seven Women Filed Suit)

Boghossian was asked to meet with the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) chair, Jack Barbera, on Oct. 18, 2018, according to the YouTube video. The meeting was about whether certain protocols were reviewed prior to the hoax studies.

The IRB is responsible for setting guidelines for academic research.

Studies cannot be conducted if they are shot down by the IRB, according to Boghossian.

“You don’t pull somebody in front of the IRB to slap their wrists,” Boghossian said in the video.

Boghossian added a person gets such a meeting if there is a “serious breach of ethics.”

The IRB concluded the grievance studies research fell under the federal definition of research and he met the requirements for collecting data from living individuals.

Boghossian, who is not tenured, said he could lose his job if marked with an ethics violation or professional misconduct, according to the video.

The PSU professor previously anticipated punishment or job termination by the university, The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2018.

Christopher Broderick, PSU’s assistant vice president for communications, previously told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he could not comment on whether Boghossian would get punished or fired for conducting the hoax studies.

Boghossian, PSU and Barbera did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s requests for comment.

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