IU professor Xiaofeng Wang and his wife, IU Libraries analyst Nianli Ma, are safe, have not been arrested and face no pending criminal charges, their lawyers told the Indiana Daily Student in a statement Wednesday.
The lawyers said they couldn’t provide comment on the investigation itself. Neither IU, nor the FBI, who the IDS have reached out to several times, have commented on the nature of the search.
The FBI searched Ma and Wang’s homes in Carmel and Bloomington for much of the day Friday, according to news reports from Carmel and neighbors in Bloomington. Investigators took boxes out of both homes.
“Prof. Wang and Ms. Ma are thankful for the outpouring of support they have received from colleagues at Indiana University and their peers across the academic community,” Taft Law attorney Jason Covert said. “They look forward to clearing their names and resuming their successful careers at the conclusion of this investigation.”
Repeated efforts to reach Wang and Ma have been unsuccessful.
The nature of the investigation is still unclear.
Several faculty members at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering told the Indiana Daily Student that they were fearful, especially due to the lack of communication from IU. Several of Wang’s colleagues were unaware that he was under investigation by IU and gave different dates in March of him being placed on “administrative leave.”
Alex Tanford, American Association of University Professors IU Bloomington chapter president, told the IDS on Monday that Wang had been placed on an “interim administrative action” in mid-March, meaning he had been locked out from his office and laptop.
IU Bloomington’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors is alleging the university violated policy in terminating tenured professor Xiaofeng Wang.
Tanford said Wang contacted him earlier in March — Wang told Tanford the university was investigating him for a grant application and the way he reported a publication on his curriculum vitae.
On Friday, Wang told Tanford he had been terminated. The termination letter was allegedly sent in the mid-afternoon — as the FBI searches were ongoing. The Indiana Daily Student is still working to confirm details surrounding IU’s investigation of Wang.
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