Gabriel Dillard

It hasn't been a good month for academia.

First there was "Climategate," in which leaked emails between scientists studying global warming reveal possible efforts to hide evidence that global warming was not as strong as generally believed. The story has been largely ignored by the mainstream media.

Then there is "Dieselgate," in which a researcher for the California Air Resources Board was found to have falsified his academic credentials. The researcher wrote a key document about the health impacts from diesel truck emissions that was used to justify a new rule requiring trucking companies to retrofit and replace their fleets. California Air Resources Board staff and the chair of the board knew about the transgression, but didn't inform the whole board before the vote was cast implementing the rules.

Add to that "Charitygate." Just today, California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced the settlement of a case he filed against a UCLA researcher who was found to be using charity funds raised by his nonprofit foundation to fund his own research for personal business ventures.

Maybe climate change is as bad as scientists say it is. And maybe thousands of people do die every year from diesel truck emissions. And maybe some research is so important (and profitable) it should be funded by any means necessary. But thanks to the actions of these researchers, not only is the research tainted, academia loses some of its credibility as well.

If you can't trust the guy in the white lab coat, who can you trust?

Tags: deceit | fraud | academia | Climategate | UCLA | CARB