跟踪：司法部撤销对耶鲁大学医学院林海帆教授的调查
【注：耶鲁大学校报（Yale News)于3月16号报道了医学院教授林海帆被停职调查的消息和学校教职工发布的支持林教授公开信（链接：耶鲁大学医学院林海帆教授被司法部调查：又一科学猎巫案？）。耶鲁校报今天报道司法部已经撤销了针对林教授的调查。以下是耶鲁校报关于此事的最新报道和教职工对此事的反应】
教职工报道
耶鲁新闻（Yale News）
4月1日，2022
根据法律顾问、Post & Schell 公司的 Abe Rein的一份声明，司法部通知对林教授的调查已于 3 月 30 日（星期三）“停止”。应几位耶鲁教职工的要求，美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）于 2019 年 3 月开始对林教授就“报告外部支持的充分性（the sufficiency of reporting of outside support）”进行内部调查。次年，至少自 2020 年 7 月以来，林教授一直在接受美国司法部的调查。鉴于耶鲁大学声称是 NIH 提供的“可靠信息”，林教授在 2022年1 月份被大学教务长 Scott Strobel 和医学院院长 Nancy Brown 以“内部调查”的名义停职。耶鲁教职员工曾发出公开信谴责耶鲁校方暂停林教授职务的做法和进行的相关调查，认为美国司法部反间谍活动“中国倡议（China Initiative）”不公平地歧视亚裔和华裔研究人员。目前尚不清楚林教授的具体案件是否属于该倡议的范围内。司法部已经于 2 月下旬结束了该倡议。
耶鲁大学对此没有立即发表评论。
律师事务所称，林教授是细胞生物学教授和耶鲁大学著名的干细胞中心主任，他本人周四无法发表评论。林教授说莱因公司一直在帮助他就政府的调查一事提供咨询。耶鲁大学此前曾表示已为林教授聘请了律师。
目前尚不清楚林教授是否仍然被停职。他的同事们报告说，自一月份以来，他一直被禁止进入他的实验室，并被禁止与他的研究小组联系。比较医学系和细胞生物学系以及干细胞中心发布公开信支持林教授，声称耶鲁大学违反正当程序，在政府或大学本身调查结束之前将林教授停职。耶鲁此前发表声明称，校方已遵循教师手册中列出的所有指导方针。
“我希望海帆尽快复职”，医学院教授兼文理学院院长瓦莱丽·霍斯利(Valerie Horsley)在给《新闻报》的信中写道。 “我也希望耶鲁大学能更清楚地说明他被停职的原因，我还想知道如果正在进行调查，教员何时会被停职。”
其他教师的批评则更为严厉。
细胞生物学教授乔尔·罗森鲍姆（Joel Rosenbaum）写道：“如果耶鲁大学教务长办公室从一开始就支持海帆的话，他们不会如此被动”。 “但只要听到他们没有从 NIH 拨款中获得份额，他们就采取了懦弱的立场。在进行任何彻底调查之前就被推定一个人有罪，这不是第一次。”
耶鲁大学通信副总裁内特尼克森此前曾写信给新闻，该大学已遵循教师手册中概述的所有政策和正当程序。
校方的公告是在第二医学院发表声明支持林教授的第二天发布的。比较医学系发出了最新信函，对导致林停职的事件表示“强烈反对”，并提到林教授以外的教师也可能受到同样的对待。这是继全校范围内的初步调查后，林教授所在的细胞生物学系发出了的一封信。现在他们又发出了第二封关于林教授事件而致校方的信函。
“最近，许多公开信息都显示了耶鲁大学在处理林教授一事的程序上出现失败，似乎是有意在完成调查之前就将他停职”，比较医学系的声明中说。 “我们对这种情况的公开讨论表明，其他美籍华裔教师可能也受到了类似的对待。”
信中还将对林教授的调查归因于“中国倡议”。耶鲁新闻校刊无法与校方或司法部核实林教授的案件是否属于中国倡议。
这封信于周二由比较医学系的推特账户发布，并分享给许多医学院教职员工。
附：耶鲁新闻校报的报道
Department of Justice drops investigation against Haifan Lin
It is unclear whether the School of Medicine professor’s suspension by the University has ended.
ISAAC YU 12:43 AM, APR 01, 2022
STAFF REPORTER
Yale News
A federal investigation into School of Medicine professor Haifan Lin has been discontinued, according to his lawyer.
The Department of Justice notified Lin’s legal counsel, Abe Rein of the firm Post & Schell, that its investigation had been “discontinued” as of Wednesday, March 30, according to a statement from the firm. The professor had been under investigation by the DOJ since at least July 2020 following a March 2019 inquiry by the National Institutes of Health regarding “the sufficiency of reporting of outside support” by several Yale faculty, including Lin. Lin was suspended by University Provost Scott Strobel and School of Medicine Dean Nancy Brown in January in light of an internal investigation due to what the University claimed was “credible information” provided by the NIH. Faculty members decried the suspension and investigation, saying that the China Initiative, a DOJ anti-espionage campaign, unfairly discriminates against researchers of Asian and Chinese descent. It is unclear whether Lin’s specific case fell under the umbrella of the Initiative, which the DOJ ended in late February.
The University could not immediately provide a comment.
Lin, a professor of cell biology and director of the University’s prestigious Stem Cell Center, was not available to provide comment on Thursday, according to his law firm. Rein had been providing counsel to Lin regarding the government’s investigation, he said. The University had previously stated that it had acquired lawyers for Lin.
It is unclear whether Lin’s suspension remains in place. Colleagues reported that he had been barred from his lab and from contacting his research group since January. The Comparative Medicine Department and the Cell Biology Department, as well as the Stem Cell Center, released open letters in support of Lin, alleging that the University had violated due process by suspending Lin before the conclusion of an investigation by either the government or University itself. The University previously released a statement saying that its officials have followed all guidelines outlined in the Faculty Handbook.
“I hope that Haifan is reinstated as soon as possible,” School of Medicine professor and Chair of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senate Valerie Horsley wrote to the News. “I also hope that the University gives more clarity about why he was placed on leave and when faculty are subject to being placed on leave if an investigation is underway.”
Other faculty were more critical.
“The Yale Provost’s Office could have come out of this looking good if they had backed up Haifan right from the beginning,” wrote professor of cell biology Joel Rosenbaum. “But as soon as there was just a smell of them not getting overhead from NIH grants, they took a cowardly stance. One is presumed guilty, right from the start, before there is any thorough investigation; this is not the first time this has happened.”
Yale Vice President of Communications Nate Nickerson previously wrote to the News that the University has followed all policies and due process outlined in the Faculty Handbook.
The announcement came a day after a second medical school department issued a statement in support of Lin. The newest letter, issued by the Department of Comparative Medicine, expresses “strong opposition” to events leading to Lin’s suspension and also mentions the possibility that faculty other than Lin have also been suspended. This is now the second departmental letter addressed to the University regarding Lin, after an initial school-wide inquiry and one issued by the Cell Biology Department, of which Lin is a member.
“The many recent public accounts of this situation have exposed a potential failure of due process on the part of Yale University, which appears to be, for all practical purposes, suspended him prior to the completion of the investigation,” the Comparative Medicine Department’s statement reads. “Our public discussion of this situation revealed other Chinese-American faculty may also have been similarly treated.”
The letter also attributes the investigation to the China Initiative. The News has not been able to verify with the University or DOJ that Lin’s case specifically falls under the China Initiative.
The letter was released by the department’s Twitter account on Tuesday and shared by many medical school faculty members.
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