Northwestern: Protess Lied, Doctored Records

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 7, 2011 6:40PM

The back-and-forth between Northwestern University and on leave Medill Innocence Project founder David Protess continues. NU finally came out yesterday and accused Protess of doctoring records and lying to university officials and attorneys investigating ethics questions related to a wrongful conviction case he and Innocence Project students were working on.

Protess is being accused by NU of doctoring emails to turn over documents related to the wrongful conviction case of Anthony McKinney to prosecutors, who believe the wiretaps Protess and his students used were ethics breaches.

"In sum, Protess knowingly misrepresented the facts and his actions to the University, its attorneys and the dean of Medill on many documented occasions," University spokesman Al Cubbage wrote in a statement distributed after a Medill faculty meeting in which University Provost Dan Linzer and Medill Dean John Lavine released the findings of a review of the high-profile professor.

The accusations come at the tail end of a five-month investigation into Protess's work and home computer hard drives. Cubbage also said in the statement that Protess's actions violated Medill's values of personal and professional integrity. The response to NU's statement by Protess and his supporters has been swift and sharp, with Protess saying the university's statement is "blatantly false" and "malicious."

Northwestern pulled Protess from teaching any spring classes last month. Protess followed NU's move by announcing he was going on a leave of absence to set up an Innocence Project that would be independent of any university and, we assume, independent of any university investigation. Protess's work with the Innocence Project has led to the exoneration of more than 10 inmates who were wrongfully convicted.