In May 2019, website journalists began reporting on controversial events including actions taken against a faculty whistleblower, Dr. Eric Kang Ting, and revelations regarding other professors’ behavior related to how data was published in top-level journals. One such article, by Leonid Schneider can be viewed at https://forbetterscience.com/2019/05/10/ucla-hunts-whistleblowers-as-student-accuses-dentistry-dean-of-sexual-harassment/.
THE WHISTLEBLOWER PAYS THE PRICE FOR SPEAKING OUT
Multiple internet and print items appeared beginning in 2019 reporting that Dr. Kang Ting encountered reactions opposed to him for standing up to make facts public and advocating they be debated.
Among these was an article that reported that Dr. Ting had filed a lawsuit alleging he had faced retaliatory abuse after testifying related to a Title IX lawsuit filed in 2018 by a student who was his mentee alleging sexual harassment against another person. Dr. Ting contended this caused him to be removed as chair of the Section of Orthodontics. The article is found at https://dailybruin.com/2020/05/27/dentistry-professor-sues-uc-for-alleged-retaliation-following-title-ix-testimony.
The mentee student’s allegations were more extensively set forth in another article published by “For Better Science”. The piece lays out the details of allegations supported by emails by the student who alleged sexual harassment. In one email, the student stated ‘[f]ortunately I have faculties who are very supportive of me. My mentor, Dr. Ting and his research team, and Dr. Moon, our previous section chair, have been committed to protecting me . . . .’ The article is found at https://forbetterscience.com/2019/05/10/ucla-hunts-whistleblowers-as-student-accuses-dentistry-dean-of-sexual-harassment/
A STUDENT FILES A TITLE IX LAWSUIT FOR BEHAVIOR SHE WAS FORCED TO ENDURE
In a Title IX lawsuit filed in 2019, one of Dr. Eric Kang Ting’s residents, Justine Tanjaya, alleged emotional distress and feeling violated. Specific excerpts from the lawsuit include these statements below. More information about the lawsuit can be found at: https://uclahuntswhistleblowers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Exhibit-18-Justine-Tanjaya-vs-UCLA_230505_072411.pdf
DR. ERIC KANG TING SUES UCLA FOR HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION AND RETALIATION
After providing truthful testimony in Justine Tanjaya’s Title IX complaint, Dr. Eric Kang Ting alleged in court documents he was the subject of further retaliation and harassment and was driven out of the university. Dr. Ting sued UCLA for retaliation, discrimination and harassment. More information about the lawsuit can be found at https://uclahuntswhistleblowers.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/FILED-COMPLAINT-FOR-1-RETALIATION-IN-VIOLATION_230505_072324.pdf.
In the lawsuit, Dr. Ting reveals the details of measures designed to ‘punish him into silence.’ He was stripped of his longtime position as Chair of the University’s Section of Orthodontics, allegedly referred to as ‘taking the keys to the Mercedes’ away from him. Other actions alleged included denying Dr. Ting’s requests for sabbatical to take care of his ailing father as well as delaying Dr. Ting’s routine renewal of his O-1 Visa.”
WHISTLEBLOWER DISPUTES BOGUS CLAIMS WITH RECEIPTS
In an October, 26, 2022 article in the World Journal, the world’s largest Chinese American newspaper, Dr. Eric Kang Ting responded to claims made against him and two other professors involving fees from international students. Dr. Ting provided documents and emails showing how the fees from the students are deposited and approved by the office of the dean of the School of Dentistry and any financial transactions involving the fees are tracked by the university.
A partial English translation of the article states, “The School of Dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Dentistry recently became involved in a dispute about professors overcharging student fees from international students. The professor involved refutes this and criticized the university authorities for being biased.
UCLA is one of the world’s top universities. Its Orthodontic residency program in the School of Dentistry is highly competitive, accepting only six to eight students a year. Two to four of the positions are for international students under the school’s policy. It is also under such a system that students, mentoring professors, and the school have caused a lot of controversy due to the fee system. As a result, three professors left their posts and over allegations of overcharging students during their tenure.
The details of the issues were not disclosed by the three. But it was misreported in the LA Times article. At the heart of the controversy, Kang Ting, in particular, came forward to clarify what had happened. Kang Ting refuted the LA Times report and produced school documents and emails to prove that he did not take the fee. The fees were received by the school administration, and all relevant financial transactions are regularly tracked. This controversial project is the “Orthodontic International Training Program for Research Education Fund.” The fund, as described by the UCLA School of Dentistry Director of Development is to “support research education for individuals in the orthodontic international training program and the UCLA School of Dentistry.” The fees were destined to be used for the training of these orthodontic residents in accordance with the explicit provisions of the institution. The research and education fund was controlled directly by the Finance Office of the University after payment. All financial payments for students are deposited and approved by the Office of the Dean. Therefore, no supervising professor can cash in on the fee himself. Professor Ting said helplessly that when the LA Times reported it, the reporter only gave him about 4 hours to respond and verify before the deadline. So Professor Ting, who was in Taiwan at the time, did not have adequate time to respond with an official statement.
The controversial training program stemmed from the mutually agreed issuance of additional funding by the international students’ countries in order to provide their students learning opportunities in the latest technology and knowledge so that the students can return to their own countries to disseminate and teach it in practice to others. As these students lacked prior research experience, significant additional instructions were required to guide the students’ learning on the operation of research equipment and techniques relevant to the project. During the learning process, these students can also get more research experience. Professor Ting stressed and presented evidence, saying that this training program fee did not have any salary paid to faculty, and that the so-called private pocketing of the fund for salary was completely false. . . . Professor Kang Ting’s passion and enthusiasm in teaching and his protection of international students are obvious to all members of the school. . . . . Kang Ting said that he was born in Taiwan and studied in Hong Kong, which is why he especially protects international students. It was also after he joined the Section of Orthodontics and Dentistry that he began to admit students of different genders and other races to achieve diversity. . . . . Kang Ting said that these false accusations, including the previously heated controversy over student fees, [has] exhausted him physically and mentally. And the huge pressure has caused great trauma to his body, mind, and soul and also caused harm to his wife and daughter. He also called on Asian-American legislators and the Chinese American community to urge the California government and the UC main campus to host a truly fair and independent investigation and hearing instead of letting the Chinese become scapegoats for this race and power struggle.
A member in the UCLA School of Dentistry said that Professor Ting’s departure is a great loss to UCLA, and Professor Ting in orthodontics has always been a leader in the international academic community. He has helped many difficult cases and children with craniofacial disease to successfully return to normal dental occlusion and function. His passion for the profession and his passion for actively training the next generation is likely to be extinguished, which is a real regret.
In the World Journal article, Dr. Ting says the claim about fees from international students is just one of many “bogus investigations” that targeted him and some of his residents. Dr. Ting told the World Journal that the administration didn’t like it when he offered to pay out of his own pocket for higher-quality personal protection equipment for the residents, when they became concerned about exposure to the virus in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Ting also told the World Journal about the disparity in racial diversity among the leadership at UCLA, stating there is only one Asian among the 13 deans. Dr. Ting told the World Journal that one of his proudest achievements during his time as Chief of the Section of Orthodontics was his recruitment and admission of residents of different genders and races.
UCLA WHISTLEBLOWER CALLS FOR STATE INVESTIGATION
According to an article in the Founder’s Courier from November 9, 2022, Dr. Chia Soo, a professor at UCLA and the wife of Dr. Eric Kang Ting said “It is clear to me that UCLA created and paid a lot of money for a predetermined investigative outcome based on false allegations to continue to retaliate against my husband.”
An article published by the Founder’s Courier and by Jeff Solis on November 9, 2022 (https://web.archive.org/web/20230331165047/https://www.founderscourier.com/ucla-whistleblower-calls-for-state-investigation/) set forth significant details of the misfortunes surrounding the departure of Dr. Eric Kang Ting from UCLA. Portions of that article are reproduced below:
“After a long and celebrated tenure at UCLA’s School of Dentistry, Dr. Eric Kang Ting’s departure from the university did not play out the way he always imagined it would happen.”
“’I gave 26 years of my life to the university and my students,’ said Dr. Eric Kang Ting, who is executive director and a founding board member for the International Orthodontics Foundation. ‘My research was making a difference in people’s lives, and I enjoyed mentoring residents to make sure they were prepared to be the best orthodontists in their field. I always assumed I would be at UCLA until I retired.’ Former residents from the UCLA School of Dentistry say Dr. Ting built one of the top Orthodontic programs in the country while serving as the Chair of UCLA Orthodontics from 2003-2019….”
“’For me, Dr. Ting brought a lot of value to the program,’ said a former resident who graduated from the UCLA School of Dentistry in June 2022. ‘He was one of the reasons I applied to UCLA.’”
“We spoke with several former residents who verified that they attended UCLA during Dr. Ting’s tenure, but all of them asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from the university.”
“’I had positive experiences with Dr. Ting. He was the whole reason I went to that program,’ said another former UCLA resident who graduated in 2021. ‘He pushed you to achieve your best and was going to make you work as hard as you could. He had also been in the field for many years, pushing the cutting edge of technologies, so it felt like a place where you could grow as an orthodontist. I was looking for somewhere where I could get pushed.’”
“Besides pushing his residents to excel, Dr. Ting also pushed himself to find better solutions to help patients grow bone. He was motivated by his longstanding work with craniofacial patients who often need painful bone grafting procedures to obtain adequate bone for craniofacial reconstructive surgery. This led to his discovery of the NELL-1 protein, which has a powerful effect on tissue-specific stem cells that create bone-building cells. Alongside his wife, Dr. Chia Soo, a UCLA professor with a specialty in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Dr. Ting collaborated with NASA and CASIS to send mice to space to test the efficacy of NELL-1 as a bone growing therapy to prevent bone loss in space and to help patients needing bone growth on Earth.”
“Despite his internationally recognized achievements and loyalty to the university, Dr. Ting said he felt compelled to speak up when he started noticing troubling issues within the School of Dentistry. He said it was his duty to notify the school administration to protect the integrity of the program he had worked so hard to build. . . . .”
[The article provides details here of the concerns Dr. Ting raised with his superiors at UCLA relating to accounting and the quality of the responses by the school in equal opportunity employment. And it chronicles how Dr. Ting suffered because of his ardor in speaking out. It also details the hiring of a private law firm to investigate Dr. Ting and two other professors regarding the unsupported charges raised against them. ] “Dr. Ting and the other professors deny receiving or soliciting unauthorized fees from international residents, and Dr. Ting provided a series of emails that shows the university’s involvement in and approval of the gift fund which was referenced in the report. As evidence of that, Dr. Ting provided one memo memorializing a gift and how it was to be expended.”
“Dr. Ting also stressed that every financial transaction into and out of profit-sharing programs at the university is tracked, proving that he received no illegal or improper funds.”
“The attorneys for the three John Does named in the report released a statement to the L.A. Times in August, saying, ‘Our clients vehemently deny the meritless accusations made in the Hueston Hennigan report. As we have stated repeatedly in public court filings, we believe our clients’ rights to due process were violated during the course of the investigation. We question the pretexts under which it was launched, the way in which it was conducted, and the reasons why it has now been leaked, especially since the UCLA administration knows well that a truly independent and transparent investigation would have shown that the accusations were entirely unfounded….’”
“DR. TING FIGHTS BACK”
“By the summer of 2020, Dr. Ting says he was suffering from stress-induced health issues like ulcers and insomnia. In July 2020, Dr. Ting filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging employment discrimination and other causes regarding the response to Dr. Ting’s actions as a whistleblower. But, as a result of the events recounted here, Dr. Ting and two other Asian-American professors settled their disputes with UCLA and left the university, bringing Dr. Ting’s illustrious work there to a close….”
“CALL TO ACTION”
“Dr. Ting stated ‘I never set out to be a whistleblower, but I did what I thought was right and paid a heavy price. I hope my track record in combating the university’s issues with equity, diversity and inclusion by positively transforming the structure and culture of my division, and my outreach efforts in the community have demonstrated my life-long commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.’”
“’This is bigger than me,’ said Dr. Ting. ‘Look at all of the school’s departments,’ said Dr. Ting. ‘Out of 13 possible dean positions, there is only one Asian dean, of Indian descent. That’s disappointing in 2022 given all of the qualified candidates who have applied for those positions.’”
“Dr. Ting says he is trying to raise awareness about the UCLA School of Dentistry, and to improve equity and inclusion at UCLA. Dr. Ting also wants vindication for his actions and to prove that he has suffered for being a whistleblower. ‘I demand an investigation that is fair and transparent,’ said Dr. Ting, ‘so that I can have a proper hearing on the false allegations against me.’”
THE WHISTLEBLOWER RETALIATION NEVER STOPS
The harassment of Dr. Eric Kang Ting continues to this day. In February of 2023, someone with knowledge of the personal email addresses of his wife and colleague sent the following messages to him through his website – “You will die of cancer” and “Watching your life ruined is delicious.”
