Embattled PSU Professor’s Case Fits Into Larger Debate About Research Ethics

The case of Portland State University Prof. Peter Boghossian, who, along with two other researchers, submitted fake research to scholarly journals last year continues to generate national discussion.

As WW reported last week, Boghossian says PSU is seeking to punish him for ginning up work on canine rape culture in Portland dog parks and other made-up topice.

Related: Professor Who Authored Hoax Papers Says Portland State University Has Launched Disciplinary Proceedings Against Him.

The conversation about the faux research, which Boghossian and his colleagues, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay, submitted last year to publications including a feminist geography journal called "Gender, Place and Culture," has divided observers.

Those on the left, including some of Boghossian's PSU colleagues, think his gesture made a mockery of the academic research process, while those on the right say the backlash against the faux research is emblematic of intolerance and excessive political correctness on university campuses.

In its Intelligencer column this week, New York Magazine took a long look at the historical context for the current flap.

"When you cut through the noise of social media and the raging culture war in which this incident is enmeshed, and focus instead on how universities tends to handle this sort of thing, PSU's investigation, on its own, actually offers very little evidence of a witch hunt or unfair treatment of Boghossian," writes Jesse Singal. "The long answer is a bit more complicated, and ties into a broader controversy within academia."

Read Singal's take here.