A prominent Indiana University cybersecurity professor was fired from his job on the same day the FBI and Department of Homeland Security conducted searches on his homes, according to a letter sent to the school by his union on March 31.
The union said Wang XiaoFeng, a professor at the university’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, was fired on March 28 following a search of two properties associated with him and his wife, Nianli Ma.
Wang had been associate dean for research at the school in Bloomington, Indiana.
“Termination of a tenured faculty member is an action that requires the highest level of scrutiny and due process,” the letter stated. “His appointment was terminated without the required notice and a hearing before the Faculty Board of Review.”
The union said it was aware of news reports indicating that Wang is under investigation by law enforcement.
“While the outcome of those investigations may ultimately bear on Professor Wang’s continued appointment at IU, the mere fact of an investigation or of unadjudicated allegations cannot justify failure to comply with university policies on the part of the administration. It is fundamental that individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty,” the union said.
It asked the university to revoke Wang’s firing and provide him with due process.
It is not clear why Wang was terminated.
Alex Tanford, an Indiana University professor of law and president of the Bloomington chapter, said that a complaint was filed with the university in mid-February accusing Wang of research misconduct by failing to properly disclose who was principal investigator on a grant application.
The complaint also accused Wang of failing to fully list all co-authors on an article, he said.
It is not clear if the complaint relates to his termination.
Tanford said Wang’s department told the union that Wang had accepted a job elsewhere next year, and normal advanced notice was provided so the school could plan accordingly.
Wang, who studied in China in the 1990s before coming to the United States, had been a professor at Indiana University since 2004.
Wang has received numerous awards for his work, including the PET Award for outstanding research in privacy enhancing technologies, among others.
The university has since removed online profiles for both Wang and his wife.
A lawyer representing Wang said that the computer science professor has not been detained and there are no pending criminal charges against either him or his wife.
“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,” attorney Jason Covert said. “They look forward to clearing their names and resuming their successful careers at the conclusion of this investigation.”
A federal judge on April 2 ordered the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana to respond to the motion by April 17.
