PI might get fired

[Zainab]

Hello guys.. I find myself in a pretty shitty situation and would greatly appreciate some information. My phd advisor has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation. At this point, no one knows why and people who know are not telling or arent allowed to. I have absolutely no way to contact my pi since he is not allowed to. So basically im kinda like an orphan phd student at this point. Im in my third semester (2nd year) of my phd. Does anyone have any experience with this? How long do such investigations last? what would be the reasons for such an investigation? Any insight might help. 

[fuzzylogician]

I think that the answers to your questions don't matter. It's not about him, it's about you. I would schedule a meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies or the Chair of your department ASAP. The question to ask is not what will happen to him, but how they will work to support you during this time when you don't have access to your advisor. Ask to be assigned a secondary advisor, hopefully someone who would be willing to take over in case your advisor doesn't come back. Putting someone on administrative leave and not allowing them access to their students is a drastic move, and would imply that something is seriously wrong, and could take a long time to figure out.* I would guess that this may not end well for your advisor, given that this has happened. Even if he is fully exonerated from whatever the charges are, his reputation has been hurt, and likely also his relations with colleagues. He may not recover, or he may want to move to a new place of employment. (Of course, these are guesses, I have no way of actually knowing what is going on!). Either way, I would suggest that you take steps to protect yourself in case your advisor doesn't come back, or even in case his reputations is so hurt that even if he does survive this, you won't want to be associated with him. 

* Guesses: the two things that come to mind are some inappropriate behavior toward a student or colleague (some kind of harassment or mistreatment) or a problem with academic integrity. But again, these are baseless guesses. If I am on the right track, though, these things can easily take several months to figure out. Official sanction procedures are slow. 

[Neist]

1 hour ago, fuzzylogician said:

* Guesses: the two things that come to mind are some inappropriate behavior toward a student or colleague (some kind of harassment or mistreatment) or a problem with academic integrity. But again, these are baseless guesses. If I am on the right track, though, these things can easily take several months to figure out. Official sanction procedures are slow. 

 

I cannot well comment to the majority of what @fuzzylogician addressed. However, before I decided to pursue graduate school, I worked in a large-ish academic unit of a university for over ten years. The only instances that I can recall that involved your described level of punitive actions resulted from either inappropriate relationships with students or substance abuse issues which seriously impacted their work. I'm sure academic integrity issue would garner a similarly serious response, but they'd have to be fairly significant instances of academic integrity.

[Sigaba]

1 hour ago, Zainab said:

 Any insight might help. 

The situation might be a "wheels within wheels" type of thing that can end up crushing people further down the food chain. Stay as clean and as clear as you can. Keep your ears and eyes open but offer no opinions and form as few conclusions as possible regarding why your POI is on leave.  Stay away from the gossip, even to the point where you remember that you needed to be somewhere else five minutes ago.

If the DGS or the department chair read you in--IMO they shouldn't--and then remind you to keep the conversation in confidence, say "What conversation?"

If such a conversation takes place, understand that you're being trusted and you're also being tested. In that moment, you may need to figure out what kind of a professional academic, if not person, you want to be. If you think there's a certain appeal to knowing where the bodies are buried, understand that there may be a time when you're handed a shovel and a sodden burlap sack.

IRT @fuzzylogician's guidance, there's another possible outcome. The PI is completely exonerated, the PI's relationships and professional stature are untainted, the department wants the PI to stay and the PI does, too. But the PI is now very angry. What then?

 

[TakeruK]

I agree with the above advice that you shouldn't get involved in whatever circumstances/situation that lead your PI to be on administrative leave. Don't defend your PI---clearly there are many things you don't know and most cases where someone would end up on such a leave stem from some serious misconduct that you didn't know about. You can hurt your own reputation by defending someone who has committed serious offenses. 

Another tricky thing is that sometimes not taking any sides can be considered taking a side. For example, if it turns out that your PI had inappropriate relationships with students, harassed them, etc. then being "neutral" in this sense can reflect poorly on you as well. There is little way for you to win while still being associated with this PI. So, I second the advice to talk to the DGS and look for another advisor. 

[Sigaba]

6 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Another tricky thing is that sometimes not taking any sides can be considered taking a side. For example, if it turns out that your PI had inappropriate relationships with students, harassed them, etc. then being "neutral" in this sense can reflect poorly on you as well. 

Given the many unknowns as well as the toxicity of the political season, it may not hurt to figure out how you might answer "What do you think?" type questions. Don't over rehearse potential responses, just have some ideas on how you'd deal with gossipy graduate students and professors looking for chew toys.

 

[Zainab]

Update: So this is what i cannot decide.. the graduate students are asking me 'ofh your advisor has left.. is he ok healthwise? or is it something else? but the truth is, i know as much as everyone else does.. which is nothing.. But I fear this makes me look like a complete fool,... like how do i not know what is going on with my pi.. In the meantime, I have meeting scheduled to talk to the DGS and also to another faculty member for taking over my advisor.

But on a completely different side note: I actually really miss my PI. We had a very good relationship, and he has been tremendously helpful.. sort of like a father figure. I m so confused.

[TakeruK]

34 minutes ago, Zainab said:

Update: So this is what i cannot decide.. the graduate students are asking me 'ofh your advisor has left.. is he ok healthwise? or is it something else? but the truth is, i know as much as everyone else does.. which is nothing.. But I fear this makes me look like a complete fool,... like how do i not know what is going on with my pi.. In the meantime, I have meeting scheduled to talk to the DGS and also to another faculty member for taking over my advisor.

But on a completely different side note: I actually really miss my PI. We had a very good relationship, and he has been tremendously helpful.. sort of like a father figure. I m so confused.

I know this is a hard time for you. Here's my advice. (Note: I have not experienced this myself but know others who have).

1. It's okay to say that you don't know what's going on with your PI. You are not your PI's personal assistant. You are also not their family member. Like @Sigaba suggested, you should pick a careful statement, practice it and say it to everyone who asks you about it. Something like, "I am not sure what is going on and I hope to find out soon" etc. Also as Sigaba suggested, you don't want to have it over-rehearsed, so feel free to alter your responses and be honest on how you feel with your close friends etc. but for the random people that will just ask you, I think it's okay to have the same 1-2 sentence answer. 

It's good that you are talking to the DGS etc.

2. It's nice for you that you had a really good relationship with your PI. But if your PI is on leave because he was harming other students, be mindful that your experience is different from others. Be very careful to think about your colleagues too---emphasizing how much you liked him could be harmful/dismissive to those did not have good experiences with him. Generally, the worst offenders are very "good" publicly and to certain students and terrible to others. So, just keep in mind that everyone will have different experiences. And that someone can be a very good mentor etc. but terrible in other ways.

However, this is all assuming the worst case scenario. Maybe there's nothing inappropriate about his leave at all. But I'd generally play it safe and follow the advice here.

[Zainab]

Thank you so much for the advice, @TakeruK. I think what you are saying makes sense. As much as this is confusing and troubling, I just have to put on my big girl pants and deal with this. Thank you for your time!

[TakeruK]

One last thing: don't forget to take time for self-care too. Find friends, family, etc. who will support you. If things get worse later on, ensure that you take some time to get this support and take care of yourself! 

[orange turtle]

I know this is late but just in case. My PI was placed on administrative leave that lasted for about 2 weeks. Came back and it was like nothing happened. Whole lab continued as normal. I would advise going directly to a department chair and asking for guidance for future students in this position and whatever you do, don't gossip because the usual suspects of inappropriate relationships with students and such were wrong with this case (and might be for you as well). Department chairs usually know what is going on and can best advice. In my case, PI had a mental-health related outburst that affected some personnel and the department advised us we had no need to worry about our own positions and offered support.