SAN FRANCISCO — Former Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne responded publicly for the first time Tuesday to allegations in a new book that he was forced to resign from the university not only because of flaws in his oversight of scientists but over how he handled the controversy.
At the STAT Breakthrough Summit West, STAT reporter Matthew Herper read aloud three paragraphs from Theo Baker’s book, “How to Rule the World.’’ Tessier-Lavigne sat with hands clasped in his lap as he listened to Baker’s description of the board meeting that led to his ouster.
According to Baker, the board concluded “that Tessier-Lavigne’s admit-nothing, deny-everything approach ‘did not reflect well on him and, by extension, the institution.’” The Stanford investigation, according to unnamed sources in the book, omitted yet another incident that contributed to the university turning on Tessier-Lavigne — a younger, female colleague challenging the conclusions of his work, and him dismissing her. By the end of the meeting, “there was no pro-MTL camp” and the board voted unanimously to replace him, Baker wrote.
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