I need advice on quitting (primarily due to advisor)

[powairy]

Hi there,

I have a dilemma. I am nearly two years into a PhD program, and I decided to apply last January for positions in alternative programs. I know which offer I want to accept, but here is the problem:

 

I have a fellowship through my current university, and my contract states I am liable to pay back what I've received ($60 000 so far). 

 

I am quitting due to the following reasons:

 

-my advisor straight up lied to me about himself, the program, and his willingness to support my research interests

-it later became very clear that he is engaged in unethical behaviour--admitting to not reading 75% of sources he cites, putting my name on papers I had barely any knowledge of, last minute major editing of one paper without telling me (what I call censorship, given that he knew the editor of the journal wouldn't personally like some of the claims I made), publishing with his friend's journal over and over because he knows it gets no actual peer review, sleeping with one of his students, and eventually plagiarizing my own work (the thing that put me completely over the edge). 

-the EXTREMELY poor quality of the education I have received. I am talking about incompetent and disinterested professors, even less competent engagement from other graduate students, and exceedingly low standards for grad students in general. I am embarrassed at the quality of the education I am receiving here as compared to my undergraduate and graduate programs. 

 

I need advice on whether or not my reasons for leaving may get me out of having to pay back my fellowship. I have documentation to prove all of my claims. I also fear that such claims will make the grad school people angry or result in actual follow-up of my advisor and the department. I think my advisor is a bad person, but I'm not sure I want him to know I'm "trying to ruin his career" (which is how he will see it). I fear he is a vindictive person. 

 

Any advice? For the sake of my education and future career I cannot stay in this program. 

[Lisa44201]

Talk to your Ombudsperson. That person will talk to you about how to proceed.

[TakeruK]

I'm sorry to hear about your current experience! It does not sound ideal at all!

 

First, I don't think any of us can really comment on whether you have to pay back your fellowship, because it is probably something specific to your contract and you would have to talk to people who know about the contract to get real advice. However, I would think it's pretty rare that a departmental fellowship will come with the condition that "you must graduate or pay back everything on your fellowship". More commonly, I see clauses like "if you do not finish the term(s) that you have been paid for, you must pay back that part of the fellowship". So if you left in the middle of a term, you would only have to pay back the money that was paid for you to complete that term/semester. Also, it would not make sense to take money back for services performed (e.g. your fellowship was paid for you to have done some work such as TA/RA) after you have already completed that work. There are many non-service fellowships as well, but then they can't say that since you didn't TA/RA, you'd have to pay it back because non-service fellowship means that you did not have to provide any services in order to get the money. But there should be a way for you to discuss this with someone outside of your department (e.g. the graduate school) in a hypothetical manner so that you don't have to tell them you plan to leave or reveal why you want to leave. Anything I or anyone else writes here can only be guesses based on our own previous experiences! Your specific contract may be very different.

 

Also, there are some things you list that are actual unethical behavior that should be reported if you feel comfortable doing so (or talking about with your advisor) but there are also many things that aren't unethical at all--they may not be the best behavior, but nothing actually that might violate laws, University policies, or constitute academic dishonesty. Since you asked for advice, here is what I think your description of your advisors' actions lie and I hope this might help you decide what issues to focus on reporting if you do go that route. Also, some of this is subjective so other people might have other opinions:

 

Actions I think are definitely wrong and should be reported / brought up with your advisor if you want to: 

1. Putting your name on papers without your permission 

2. Plagiarizing your work

 

Actions that are questionable but not necessarily unethical/violations depending on your Universities' policies or other situations/details not known here

1. Last minute editing of a paper without telling you (if you're not first author, the advisor has the right to decide what goes in the paper, although he should have at least shown his coauthors the final draft before submission and allow anyone who doesn't agree to withdraw their name and their contributions to that paper). Without further information, I wouldn't necessarily call telling/suggesting that you remove some statements that the editor won't like to be censorship (if he's right then the editor will tell you to remove those statements anyways). Presenting your work in any medium (talk, paper, poster, whatever) means knowing your audience and strategically deciding what you want to convey. If you want to convince people of A, B, and C (your claims), it might make sense to first present only B if you think A and C are too controversial and might make people ignore your very good points in favour of B.

2. Sleeping with his students--this might be a violation of University policy. Unless the student is underage, it's probably not illegal. I know my current school has no policies that prevent a relationship between a professor and a student.

 

Actions that are crappy things to do but probably not something a prof can actually get in trouble for:

1. Lying to you about himself, the program, and how he feels about your research interests (it's hard to tell between outright lying and changing your mind, or a misunderstanding, anyways).

2. Choosing to publish only in certain journals

3. Not reading the papers cited in his work--75% is a large number, but I'd say many people won't read the entire paper when they cite a work, depending on the reason for the citation. 

4. Poor quality of the education provided by the school--this is super crappy but unless the school promised certain things in writing and then did not follow through, I can't think of a way you can hold the school to providing a certain level of education. 

 

 

I agree that an ombudsperson would be a good path to go. Maybe it's a bit different in the US, but you might want to consider another route too. In Canada, the ombudsperson is a neutral third party that mediates a tough conflict/dilemma. You can/should also seek out someone who would play more of an "Advocate" role--that is, someone whose job is to be on your side. In Canada, these people tend to be employed by the Undergrad/Graduate Student Association at that school to provide legal advice for their students (sometimes they are volunteers from the school's Law program). It might be good to have both an ombudsperson and an advocate with dealing with tricky legal issues like this case.

[redsfan2014]

Is it possible for you to switch advisors?

Finding a different project and/or advisor could help you finish your program if your current school does in fact require you to pay back a large amount of money. It sounds like you have legit reasons for no longer working with your current advisor, particularly since he plagiarized your work.

 I am kind of in the same boat ( a program that wasn't anything like I thought it was going to be, horrible advisor, etc.) and I had to make some changes. I am not working on exactly what I thought I would be in grad school, but everything started to work out once I switched projects and advisors. It is unlikely that your advisor and program will be making significant changes any time soon, so you might have to decide what you are willing to change in order to make the situation better for you. 

As for the educational standards, if it really is that bad and you are extremely unhappy then it may be in your best interests to transfer to a different school. However, if you end up having to pay back your current school, even partially, it will not be worth the move if it means you go into serious debt. 

[reinhard]

Are you serious? Sleeping with his students??

[St Andrews Lynx]

Are you serious? Sleeping with his students??

Not uncommon. 

Not ethical...but really not uncommon. 

[Josh70]

If you have evidence for your claims show this information to your school. I am not sure how your school does it but at my school the procedure would be first talk to your department chair, if nothing then keep going up the chain until someone listens. If your school cares at all about science this will be a huge deal to someone quickly. This should not blemish you in the eyes of anyone that does legitimate science and you might have to change schools but I don't think another lab would have a problem with talking someone that called out bad science.

 

Not sure about your fellowship but I would guess under certain circumstances they would be fine in a situation like this.  

[biochick]

Many graduate students are actually part of a union - although you might not even know it. I would try investigating and as others have mentioned, finding the office/ person who is there to advocate on your behalf. I've been a part of 3 different research institutions and all have had some type of office like this.

 

I don't think you should worry about pissing anyone off by leaving, as long as you are careful to leave very politely and calmly. Even though this person did wrong, you will get nowhere by throwing a public fit. When someone asks why you're leaving say "personal reasons," don't complain about your PI except officially. Generally I would strongly recommend you take the "no comment" frame of mind when getting through all the questions and that way you'll keep from looking petty.