U.S. government probes Pitt over treatment of professor

The U.S. Education Department has opened a civil investigation into whether the University of Pittsburgh waged “a campaign of denunciation and cancellation” against an Asian faculty member whose scientific article advocated race-neutral admission.

Actions that an assistant secretary of education says prompted the move — all of which the university disputed Friday — involve what the agency said are potential violations of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act.

Dr. Norman Wang, associate professor of medicine, authored a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of the American Heart Association published in March that advocated race-neutral admissions and hiring in cardiology, according to an Education Department letter sent to Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher.

The 13-page letter dated Oct. 7, sent by Robert King, assistant secretary with the department’s Office of Postsecondary Education, stated in part:

“Specifically, it appears Pitt’s senior officials removed Dr. Wang as program director of the Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh