Rockefeller University experienced its own bit of presidential scandal when its president, former Princeton University professor Arnold Levine, was accused of acting inappropriately with a female graduate student, the New York Times reported last week.
Levine, a married man, resigned last week after admitting the incident — which occurred last month — to Rockefeller's trustees, according to the Times.
Before becoming Rockefeller's president in 1998, Levine was the chair of Princeton's molecular biology department, which he founded in 1984.
University professor of molecular biology and associate director of Lewis-Thomas Laboratories James Broach, Levine's friend and colleague since their working days together at SUNY Stony Brook twenty years ago, said Levine was the key person in the formation of the molecular biology department. He was "extremely capable of picking new stars and identifying the best people on the market," which included would-be President Tilghman, Broach said.
"Arnie enjoyed partying. It was part of his charm," Broach said, putting the incident in perspective. Both Levine and the 21-year-old graduate student had been drinking, the Times reported.
Levine's greatest achievement in the field of biology has been his work with the key protein that monitors the genetic health of cells, p53. The absence of p53 in cells results in cells becoming "very aggressive tumors," Broach said.
Despite the incident, Broach said he does not feel Levine's career is over. "I suspect that he will find other opportunities to use his talents, and I'm sure there would be a lot of people that would be anxious to have him at their institutions," he said.
Levine has been on the board of directors of the biotechnology firm ImClone Systems since April 2000. Since the firm was set back from its colon cancer drug not being considered by the FDA for approval, Levine has been at the center of investigations and class-action lawsuits, according to the Daily News.
Levine has left the campus of Rockefeller, but remains a tenured faculty member and head of his laboratory, the Times reported.
Rockefeller, now in its 100th year, is a biomedical research institution in Manhattan which employs more than 500 faculty members, researchers and graduate students.
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