Duke University’s Homme Hellinga Scandal: The Untold Story of How Students Risked their Careers to Fight a Cover-Up

Progress, George Frederic Watts (1817–1904), oil on canvas. Trampled by allegorical Progress on his horse, three enemies, from left to right, are a myopic scholar reading by candlelight, a rich man scrounging for money, and a slothful man lounging.

Duke University, the school from which I received my Ph.D. in biochemistry, recently agreed to pay $112 million to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit for research misconduct. I found the settlement both unsurprising and underwhelming, a slap on the wrist for a private institution boasting an…