One must imagine that Suzy Weiss, a reporter with Paramount Skydance’s questionably named The Free Press, tires of being asked if she’s related to Bari Weiss, a co-founder of the publication who moved on to become editor-in-chief of CBS News. Bari is Suzy’s older sister, and the younger Weiss’s LinkedIn bio says she was also a co-founder of The Free Press and has remained a reporter with the publication. While Bari is taking a relentless beating from the corporate media for her leadership, sister Suzy has done U.S. journalism mighty proud.
Mighty proud!
Though one sees little evidence of it these days, the role of journalism is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. More than four years ago, Weiss published this story on Common Sense, the predecessor to The Free Press, headlined, “He Was a World-Renowned Cancer Researcher. Now He’s Collecting Unemployment.” It was a story about MIT’s canceling of Dr. David Sabatini, who was widely believed to be on track for a Nobel Prize because of groundbreaking cancer research that Weiss reported could help save countless lives.
Sabatini was canceled amid the #MeToo movement, when allegations of sexual harassment were accepted without question. A former colleague who was also a subordinate and with whom Sabatini had an affair subsequently charged that she was coerced into the relationship. The law firm Hinckley, Allen & Snyder was tasked with investigating and concluded that Sabatini had engaged in sexual harassment. Hinckley Allen also found that a lab Sabatini oversaw had a sexualized atmosphere.
Sabatini was deemed persona non grata, and when NYU’s medical school tried hiring the researcher, students protested and the school backed down.
Weiss investigated the allegations against Sabatini and produced a damning story that, judging from the comment section, left many people outraged. I, too, was incensed and published this commentary on May 25, 2022, headlined, “The Canceling of Dr. David Sabatini.” I’m proud of my judgment.
The wheels of justice grind slowly, but Sabatini finally got his day in court. On Friday, a Massachusetts jury ruled that Sabatini’s accuser, Dr. Kristin Knouse, had defamed the renowned biologist and interfered with his ability to work, awarding him $6 million. The jury also rejected Knouse’s counterclaims that Sabatini had sexually harassed and retaliated against her.
The verdict no doubt left many readers of Suzy Weiss’s 2022 story cheering, including me.
The corporate media likes to dismiss The Free Press as an opinion website, but Suzy Weiss did some gumshoe reporting and made a convincing case that Sabatini was railroaded by a cancel culture run amok and that accusations he was some sort of sexual predator were unfounded and unfair. One trainee who worked for Sabatini told Weiss that Hinckley Allen’s report depicting Sabatini as sexually inappropriate and retaliatory was “deeply insane.”
“They have the wrong guy,” a female scientist told Weiss. A female former trainee told Weiss that the climate in Sabatini’s lab was “one of excellence.” While Sabatini was demanding, he was never demeaning or unfair. “I try to emulate him in my own lab,” another female former trainee said. A third female trainee said the lab could be informal, but it was hardly a locker room. “It just wasn’t in the air.”
What I found particularly disturbing was this detail about Hinckley Allen’s investigation: Weiss reported that former lab members told her their co-workers were sobbing when they came out of meetings with the lawyers, alleging that the lawyers put words in their mouths.
“[The lawyers] had a very strong agenda,” a source confided to Weiss.
It comes as no surprise that Hinckley Allen boasts on its website of its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The media also played a role in Sabatini’s downfall.
When the MIT-affiliated Whitehead Institute put Sabatini on administrative leave, a copy of the letter to staff saying that an investigator’s report raised “very serious concerns about sexual and workplace harassment” quickly found its way to the Boston Globe. Then there was Science magazine, which published a story that NYU was considering hiring him, prompting student protests.
Still, there were some heroes in Sabatini’s saga. One was Dafna Bar-Sagi, Executive Vice President and Vice Dean for Science, Chief Scientific Officer at NYU Langone Health. Bar-Sagi knew Sabatini for years, was aware of his genius, and was aware that many in the scientific community thought the allegations against him were unfounded. Ken Langone, NYU’s billionaire philanthropist who places a premium on loyalty and cares not one iota about unfounded negative publicity, supported Bar-Sagi’s efforts.
Other heroes include hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and an anonymous donor who pledged $25 million over five years to help Sabatini build a new lab. Ackman, who has valiantly spoken out against antisemitism on college campuses, posted a lengthy commentary on X after the jury verdict, calling Sabatini’s plight “an important miscarriage of justice.”
Sabatini told The New York Times that “for the most part my trainees have been there for me through this.”
Sabatini’s nightmare isn’t over.
Ellen Zucker, Dr. Knouse’s lawyer, said in an interview Friday evening that her client would appeal the decision.
“The sad reality of our time is that society still has a difficult time believing women and appreciating the difficulty they encounter with men who too often control their fate,” Zucker said. She said Knouse “came into court and told the truth.”
The Boston Globe reported that the jury consisted of seven women and six men.