New Department Head wants to retroactively deny admission to Engineering PhD student after one year in program

[HydroLady]

Hey there, I'm a PhD student in Engineering and I'm finishing up my first year which consisted mainly of in class course work with a just a little bit of progress towards my research project.  My GPA is about a 3.2. My main academic adviser is not an engineer, but affiliated with the research institute branch of the Engineering college.  After taking 18 credits of grueling coursework, we starting asking around my particular department of the college for additional members to be on my committee who are in the engineering department and engineers.  I asked the administrative folks in my department about some committee details, and my questions were forwarded to the department head.  His response, instead of answering my questions, was to call my adviser personally and tell her my admission to the program was a mistake and that I'm not qualified and should be moved to the Interdisciplinary program and that I cannot continue work on a PhD in engineering.  He is a new department head, however, the dean of the college, who also looked over and signed off on my application last year, is the same.  The graduate school has my letter of acceptance. Everyone seems to be out of town this week and I have received just a few vague emails from my adviser about this. I thought she would be on my side, but her silence to me seems to show otherwise. I've called the grad school and they don't understand what's going on, I've called the dean's office and they said they'd look into it, but are too busy to figure it out quickly (they are short staffed right now), and I have had no contact with the new department head.  My BS is in Engineering Technology, which I know is not traditional, and my MS is in hydrology.  My BS is ABET accredited and it was pretty damn rigorous. This really sucks, just wondering if this has happened to anyone else out there, or anything similar, and if I'm just screwed, even though the grad school is calling bullshit.  

[nugget]

Until you hear back from these people, I'd collect all the official documentation your have regarding your offer of admission and the admission details so you are ready to take these papers with you in case you are suddenly called in for a meeting. Look everything over and be prepared to defend your case, because you might only have one chance to do so before a final decision is made. 

[TeaGirl]

Talk to your department's Head of Graduate Studies in person (not the same as the Department Chair or Head) and explain your situation.

Collect all your paper work and organize it, PhD admission letter and offer and any email communications both pre and post application/admission. Have a copy on hand of the department's detailed requirements for PhD applicants and the academic policy and requirements regarding continuing PhD students. These should be available on the department's webpage and the gradschool's webpage. Make sure you understand what your rights are and what your obligations are if/when you are called to a meeting about this. I recommend doing much of the talking to people face to face. These things rarely get solved over the phone or with email, especially if they are busy.

 

This sounds pretty odd to me. Degree requirements of applicants are pretty explicit and the graduate school vets your degree and makes sure you meet its requirements before it sends out an official acceptance. If you meet those requirements and the department accepts you, then that's that. I've never heard of retroactively withdrawing an acceptance after a student has finished an entire year! Who were the professors on the admission's committee who accepted you? Don't they know what the requirements are?