Dr. 
Chung 
Owyang, 
former 
University of Michigan chief of 
gastroenterology, resigned from his 
position on Jan. 2 due to allegations 
of falsified data involving millions 
of federal research dollars. The 
University 
deemed 
Owyang’s 
experiments as fraudulent and 
requested the retraction of five 
academic articles on Jan. 24.
One of the retracted papers 
appeared 
in 
the 
Journal 
of 
Neurophysiology in 2003, while 
the four other retracted articles 
were originally published in the 
American Journal of Physiology in 
2005, 2008, 2011 and 2012.
University spokesperson Kim 
Broekhuizen wrote in an email to 
The Michigan Daily that the Office 
of the Vice President for Research 
monitors 
and 
enhances 
U-M 
policies and training requirements 
to address issues related to research 
misconduct.
“(The University) is committed to 
fostering and upholding the highest 
ethical standards in the conduct 
of 
research 
and 
scholarship,” 
Broekhuizen said.
Owyang’s 
research 
involved 

studying the brain and hormonal 
reactions to various stimulants 
through testing rats. Stop Animal 
Exploitation 
Now!, 
a 
national 
watchdog group aiming to eradicate 
animal experimentation, filed two 
complaints with the federal Office 
of Research Integrity regarding 
Owyang’s research, the first on 
Dec. 12, 2022 and the second on 
Jan. 20, 2023. The group expressed 
concerns that the animals were 
being unethically used in an 
experimental setting, as the usage 
of rats was contributing to falsified 
data.
SAEN 
co-founder 
Michael 
Budkie said he has worked with 
various news sources in the state, 
such as The Detroit Metro Times, 
and wrote a letter to University 
President Santa Ono to spread 
awareness about the allegations 
of research fraud. Budkie told The 
Daily he thinks the University 
needs to take further action against 
animal 
experimentation 
in 
its 
laboratories, particularly by giving 
back the millions of dollars the 
federal government granted the 
laboratory for its research.
“The University of Michigan 
should refund the grant money 
connected to this case of research 
fraud back to the National Institutes 

of Health because the federal 
government did not get what it paid 
for,” Budkie said.
Researchers use information and 
results of previous studies in order 
to inform hypotheses and generate 
questions 
for 
further 
analysis. 
Budkie said one of the main 
consequences of data fabrication in 
research is that it might lead to more 
incidents of fraud in the future.
“One of the other things that’s 
bad about falsified experiments like 
this, especially when they’re not 
discovered for a number of years, is 
(that) they spawn other experiments 
which are then based on … falsified 
data,” Budkie said. “This has a 
cascading effect and generates a 
spreading wave of fraud.”
In an interview with The Daily, 
LSA sophomore Paul Lais described 
Owyang’s situation as unfortunate 
and counterproductive. Lais works 
as a lab assistant for research on 
osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint 
disease that wears cartilage. As 
an undergraduate researcher, Lais 
said he believes having integrity 
in research is important because 
it protects data from misleading 
future researchers. 
“I feel like the main point of 
research is to explore the topic that 
you’re researching, regardless of 

if you’re right or wrong,” Lais said. 
“Falsifying that or fabricating data 
… kind of takes away from the whole 
point of research of finding the 
truth.”
Lais highlighted the importance 
of valuing the lives of animals used 
for experimentation. 
“It’s kind of inhumane … to waste 
(the animals),” Lais said. “It’s a 
misuse of their sacrifice to science. I 
feel like that’s just not okay.” 
Budkie 
expressed 
similar 
grievances and said Owyang’s 
misconduct should be about more 
than just research fraud.
“There is somehow something 
worse about research misconduct 
when it also comes at the cost of 
animal lives,” Budkie said.
According to Broekhuizen, the 
University is working to prevent 
fraudulent research from happening 
again, outlining Ono’s future plans 
to cultivate and promote integrity in 
university research.
“President 
Santa 
J. 
Ono 
also 
recently 
announced 
that 
(the University) will create an 
independent central ethics, integrity 
and compliance office responsible 
for examining trends, processes, 
areas of concern and overall ethics, 
integrity and compliance issues,” 
Broekhuizen wrote.

What does it mean to be 
a menace? According to the 
Black Menaces, a social media 
activist group of students from 
universities across the country, 
being a “menace” entails pushing 
students 
to 
grow 
by 
asking 
uncomfortable 
questions 
and 
growing from the answers. The 
University of Michigan Digital 
Studies 
Institute 
hosted 
the 
original 
five 
Black 
Menaces 
Wednesday afternoon at Weiser 
Hall for a panel conversation 
with Apryl Williams, assistant 
professor of communications and 
media and the U-M Digital Studies 
Institute. The group spoke about 
their history and experiences as 
a coalition in front of about 50 
attendees. 
The original team consists of 
three current Brigham Young 
University 
seniors, 
Sebastian 
Stewart-Johnson, Kylee Shepherd 
and Kennethia Dorsey, as well as 
two BYU alumni, Nate Byrd and 
Rachel Weaver. Through social 
media platforms such as TikTok, 
Instagram and Twitter, the Black 
Menaces have worked to unveil 
social and institutional issues at 
predominantly white institutions 
— colleges and universities with 
a greater than 50% white student 
population — such as BYU.
The Black Menaces’ TikTok 
page, which currently has over 
721,000 
followers, 
primarily 
consists of “street interview”-
style videos, where the “Menaces” 

ask students from BYU and other 
schools to share their thoughts on 
“uncomfortable” issues such as 
LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality and 
abortion access. 
What started as a source of 
entertainment for a group of 
friends on BYU’s campus has 
now become a national coalition, 
with 12 chapters at different 
universities across the country, 
such as Duke University and the 
University of North Carolina, and a 
growing number of collaborations 
with social media influencers 
to 
empower 
marginalized 
individuals. 
According to Dorsey, co-founder 
and marketing director for the 
Black Menaces, the group began 
making TikTok videos in February 
2022 and has had a number 
of videos go viral with tens of 
millions of views, expanding its 
scope to address a broad range of 
issues on multiple PWI campuses.
“We use our platform on 
TikTok, Instagram and Twitter to 
call out issues that happened (at) 
PWIs,” Dorsey said. “At first, it was 
just for the Black community, but 
then we started going more broad.”
During 
the 
hour-and-a-half 
long panel, the group discussed 
the formation of the coalition, 
their own personal experiences at 
BYU and the purpose behind their 
movement. Weaver, co-founder 
and co-communications director 
of the Black Menaces, said the 
groups 
wanted 
to 
confront 
students and faculty about Black 
history, emphasizing that the Black 
Menaces’ main goal is to educate 
the public and inspire productive 

discourse.
“The point of our videos is 
not to expose people to the point 
that they feel ashamed of the way 
they think,” Weaver said. “It’s to 
encourage conversation.”
The Black Menaces are now 
aiming 
to 
spread 
awareness 
to universities outside of their 
national 
coalition. 
Stewart-
Johnson, 
another 
co-founder 
and the executive director of the 
Black Menaces, said he hopes the 
panel will inspire students to seek 
positive change on the University 
of Michigan’s campus. During 
the panel, he called upon higher 
education institutions to do more 
than simply acknowledge social 
issues on campus.
“For any administration, as you 
listen to (student experiences), 
find valuable ways to actually 
do something more than what’s 
performative, more than the bare 
minimum,” Stewart-Johnson said. 

“Do something that actually will 
impact the daily lives of these 
students.”
Engineering 
sophomore 
Rachana Bhandiwad attended the 
panel and told The Michigan Daily 
she decided to attend the event 
after seeing the Black Menances 
on TikTok. She said she wanted to 
hear from the students behind the 
account and learn more about the 
group’s initiatives.
“As another member of a 
minority group (at) a PWI, I really 
liked their message of going out 
and making people uncomfortable 
to the point of them doing their 
own research,” Bhandiwad said. “I 
think what they’re doing is really 
noble and takes a lot of courage. 
Coming to this event, I wanted to 
see how they did what they did and 
how I can implement (their ideas) 
on this campus.”

2 — Wednesday, February 15, 2023
News

The Black Menaces talk institutional change at UMich

CAMPUS LIFE

UMich researcher resigns following falsified data accusations

Viral TikTok activist group discuss group’s history and unveiling 
social issues at predominantly white institutions

Former U-M chief of gastroenterology resigned on Jan. 2 following allegations of 
falsified data involving millions of federal research dollars

RESEARCH

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NATALIE ANDERSON
Daily Staff Reporter

NATALIE ANDERSON
Daily Staff Reporter

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LUCAS CHEN/Daily
The Black Menaces discuss their platform and share their work Wednesday afternoon.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

University President Santa Ono 
recommended 
Provost 
Laurie 
McCauley for a full term as the 
University of Michigan’s provost 
on Tuesday, almost a year after 
the start of McCauley’s term. The 
recommendation will be considered 
by the Board of Regents at their Feb. 
16 meeting.
McCauley’s original appointment 
is set to expire in June 2023. If 
approved by the board, her term 
will extend until June 2027. The 
provost works in tandem to lead The 
University with the president as the 
chief academic and budgetary officer. 
Ono expressed his support for 
McCauley as provost and his hope 
for the future of their partnership in a 
tweet Tuesday afternoon.
“(McCauley) 
serves 
with 
distinction and honor, and I cannot 
imagine a better partner in leadership 

at U-M,” the tweet said.
Before her 1-year appointment 
as provost in 2022, MccCauley 
served as dean of the Dentistry 
School for 10 years. McCauley has 
also served as assistant professor of 
dentistry, professor of pathology and 
periodontics, chair of Periodontics 
and Oral Medicine in the School of 
Dentistry.

In a University Record article, 
McCauley said she is excited to 
continue her work as provost.
“I am honored to continue to 
lead the academic and budgetary 
mission on our campus,” McCauley 
said. “I am committed to promoting 
academic excellence and providing 
an environment where students, 
staff and faculty can optimize their 

potential. Working together, we will 
ensure that our campus remains 
a place of innovation, inclusivity, 
creativity and growth for years to 
come.”
McCauley initially replaced Susan 
Collins as provost, who stepped 
down from the position after being 
named CEO and president of the 
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 
Many 
previous 
provosts 
have 
left the University after receiving 
offers to become president at other 
institutions. 
In 
the 
same 
article, 
Ono 
highlighted the main reasons for his 
recommendation and commended 
McCauley’s work so far as provost. 
“Provost McCauley has brought 
steadfast and inspired leadership 
to the role of the institution’s chief 
academic and budgetary officer,” Ono 
said. “Provost McCauley has become 
an integral part of the executive 
leadership team of the University 
providing 
critical 
support 
and 
insight during the recent presidential 
transition and helping to shape new 
initiatives and priorities.” 

Provost Laurie McCauley to receive full term
University President Santa Ono recommended Provost Laurie McCauley 
to receive a full term through June 2027

RILEY HODDER & 
MILES ANDERSON
Daily News Editor & Daily Staff 
Reporter

EMILY ALBERTS/Daily
Dr. Laurie McCauley answers questions from Michigan Daily interviewers Nov. 8.

