Tagged in yellow chalk on a wall outside of the Hammond Building, the scrawled words question the reputation of one Penn State professor as a university inquiry into his research ethics continues.
"Climategate: Don't hide the decline," the wall reads.
While world leaders are spending the week in Copenhagen, Denmark, debating the best way to solve the global warming crisis, Penn State is still investigating if meteorology professor Michael Mann's research on the topic was ethical.
A panel of personnel within the university is reviewing all of the e-mail correspondence between Mann and scientists at the University of East Anglia in England that was illegally leaked in November. University spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said Penn State officials are conducting the inquiry, which began last week, under policy RA-10.
Climate change skeptics have flooded the Internet with allegations that these e-mails suggest the scientists at the research unit either fabricated or manufactured data to falsely support their theory of global warming. As media attention mounts -- Mann said he's given about 100 interviews to news outlets -- Mountz couldn't say how long the inquiry will take.
"I think it's exactly robust enough," she said. "The reason the policy was put together was to address exactly this kind of situation."
More than $760 million in grants are given annually to research within Penn State, Mountz said. There will be no sanctions or restrictions placed on Mann or any grants during the inquiry.
The university will also not be able to take any action or make any concrete determinations until the search has been completed, Mountz said.
"Right now, all we have are allegations," she said.
Senior Vice President for Research Eva Pell is charged by the policy to head up the inquiry committee. Pell did not return calls for comment by press time Tuesday.
Director of the Office of Research Protections Candice Yekel said while she is part of the committee, she cannot comment on the inquiry while it is still in progress.
"The process is extremely confidential, and it is important that
we maintain that," Yekel said.
Since the private e-mails were leaked, Mann has stood by his research in steadfast support of what he and his colleagues have published, including data that supports global warming.
Early last week, Mann said he is glad Penn State decided to conduct the inquiry and
abide by the university's policies.
"I'm very happy they're doing it," Mann said last week.
