Abusive Professors and Supervisors

[buttercup8d]

I created this thread so we can discuss how to deal with professors who abuse their power over students and teaching staff, and who sacrifice others' well-being for their own reputations and career ambitions. 

I am talking about bullying behavior, silencing students if they submit complaints about their program, and verbal and emotional abuse. My guess is that this probably happens frequently at the expense of grad students' mental health. With the power dynamics, there is only so much we can do to speak out in academia.

[onceinalifetime]

Since you created this topic, I'm guessing you're facing this problem currently. Am I right? If not, then I'll still leave this advice for anybody who is in this situation

I know people who faced this issue, and it's a very serious one. In fact it's probably one of the worst problems you can face as a grad student. If it's at all possible and you feel that you're in a severe situation, you should switch out of your current lab to one with a better environment. That's what my friends did and they're all extremely happy about it. Grad school, especially a PhD, is a long haul type of deal, so you shouldn't be afraid to sink several months and go back to square one if you are facing a really dire situation. Some PI's can put incredible demands on their students while being emotionally and/or verbally abusive about it. We even had a psychologist come in to evaluate the mental health of one PI's students because word got around that the environment in his lab was absolutely unbearable due to emotional abuse and insane demands. Aside from this one PI, there are a number of others known for being utterly awful to work for, but I can't point to any specific incidents involving those labs. And you're right, this is not rare; I'm sure there are several examples in every dept at a given school.

To a large degree, the way your PI treats you is going to dictate your quality of life during the years you spend in graduate school, so ensuring that your personalities mesh and that working for them is a pleasant experience (asking current students is a great way to do this) is essential.

[MarineBluePsy]

My entire department has this type of culture and complaints have escalated up the chain.  Some students quit, others allow their mental health to suffer, and a few find ways to get through it while prioritizing their mental health.

[samman1994]

In terms of what to do, every university should have a research ethics committee/department, you could go talk to them about your complaint (I believe these are used to report fraudulent research, but they should still be able to lead you into the right direction). 

However, as Marine said, it could be a department culture, and this plague can go up the chain so that your complaints mean very little and nothing will done about them. It's also difficult because abuse comes in different forms. Many professors can be the nicest of people, but they don't realize the burdens and difficulties of some of their requests. They can potentially keep throwing projects on you, and increase your work load. They could repeatedly push you for results, and consistently pressure you to take on these projects even if you protest that you are overworked already and don't have the time. These can be even harder to report because outside of those that are actively grad students in the program, will be unable to relate and might not take your reports seriously. 

In other forms, they may constantly ask you to write papers/grants, throw their proposals on you. They might constantly ask you to go to conferences on their behalf and present your work, etc. I would say these are also different forms. These are just difficult to report because they aren't the classical definitions of abuse, nor are they intentional, and these reports may easily be written off. 

All in all, I'm afraid to say I have yet to see an actual HR type group composed of currently enrolled grad students, for grad students. A student body that can actively take these reports and give them the push to get things moving and get action taken. As for tenure professors....lets just say I've seen and heard stories of abuse that should land some of these people in jail, and most schools just prefer to turn the other cheek until people either stop complaining, or graduate and leave. There is very little in accountability for these professors, most schools would prefer to offer counseling to help grad students endure these issues, rather than resolve the actual issues with the professors themselves.