First of all: I'm so sorry. This, unfortunately, is relatable—I am entering my final semester of my PhD and just cannot bring myself to care about art history after all of the abuse, mistreatment, and brazen lies to recruit students. Every day is a struggle not to quit.
Depending on your institution, the ombudsperson may or may not help. At my own, they are useless: they work for, and thus are there to protect, a broken system. The same goes for the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Graduate School. A paper trail can be very useful, but, unfortunately, people who occupy positions of power in academia can be slippery and do not much care for accountability or integrity.
It is not common to transfer graduate degrees, but also not unheard of. My suggestion is to re-start elsewhere (I say this having deeply regretted "sticking it out" where I am now). It may feel like a waste of time, but ultimately, if a program is identifiably toxic within the first semester, it unlikely that it is equipping you with useful skills for a career in art history. If faculty have been willing to hurt you for criticizing abusive behavior, they have already shown their cards, which lack integrity and deeply hurt a field that is already suffering.
If this feels like too drastic of a solution, I would suggest re-orienting yourself with the program. Ask senior students about faculty. Who is trustworthy? Who isn't? Who has hurt students, and who has helped them? Which courses equipped them with useful tools? Which caused them deep distress? A graduate degree is never worth suffering for, regardless of how much abuse is normalized. It is a piece of paper, not lifeblood, and if the program isn't taking itself seriously, you can't be expected to compensate.
mellirae got a reaction from anonymous_crazy_cat-lady in PhD application thread Fall 2023