Published on: April 4, 2025
Indiana University has fired computer science professor XiaoFeng Wang on the same day the FBI searched two homes owned by him and his wife, according to the professor’s union.
The Bloomington chapter of the American Association of University Professors is protesting the firing, saying it did not follow university policy for handling such cases. The university and the FBI have not said why Wang was fired or what the investigation is about.
Indiana University spokesperson Mark Bode confirmed the school was aware of a federal investigation but said,
“At the direction of the FBI, Indiana University will not make any public comments regarding this investigation,” Bode said.
The university has also removed online profiles of Wang and his wife, Nianli Ma, who worked in the university’s library division.
Law professor Alex Tanford, president of the union chapter, said Wang was first investigated by the university over a grant application and his curriculum vitae. Wang was barred from his office and computer before he was fired.
Tanford said Wang told him by email on Friday that he had been terminated, the same day news reports surfaced about an FBI search at a home in Bloomington. Agents also searched a second home in Carmel, Indiana, about 70 miles away.
The university did not explain why Wang was fired after more than 20 years at the school. The union argues Wang was not given due process, saying the university could have kept him suspended while the investigation continued.
“His appointment was terminated without the required notice and a hearing before the Faculty Board of Review,” the union’s letter to Indiana U. Provost Rahul Shrivastav said.
The case remains under investigation.