So, one of my advisor's students has been absent pretty much all of last semester...turns out that student had a very serious medical condition and out advisor knew from day one about the situation.
Our advisor's response to all that was to make the student feel more stressed and vulnerable during an already vulnerable time. Saying things like, "hurry up and try to get as much done before the situation gets worse", and on the day things were the worst for the student out advisor sent an e-mail saying that if we didn't update him/her weekly then s/he would drop themselves from our committee. The student replied saying basically I'm bleeding to death and in the hospital at the moment so bugger off. Not even an "I'm sorry for what you're going through." Then when that student couldn't make it to the first lab meeting of the new year because the student's terminally ill uncle passed away and the student was out of town for the funeral, our advisor's response was "I'm speechless."
I'm speechless that someone could be so inhuman! You wouldn't even treat a stranger like this. I told the student to first of all see a therapist for the student's own mental health and then to talk with the graduate school confidentially so at least there is a record of this behavior. I also told the student to talk with the assistant dean, even though it's not 100% confidential, at least someone high up will know what is going on and the student can be somewhat protected. And if the assistant dean tells our advisor what the student complained about, even better! That might make the asshole change a bit and become human. Now I'm thinking of the grinch, whose heart was two sizes two small. Academics need to face consequences for their behavior and words. Until they are faced with very real consequences they will not change and students will always be at risk.
Side note: You ever notice how often my "academic" and "asshole" tags go together?
Our advisor's response to all that was to make the student feel more stressed and vulnerable during an already vulnerable time. Saying things like, "hurry up and try to get as much done before the situation gets worse", and on the day things were the worst for the student out advisor sent an e-mail saying that if we didn't update him/her weekly then s/he would drop themselves from our committee. The student replied saying basically I'm bleeding to death and in the hospital at the moment so bugger off. Not even an "I'm sorry for what you're going through." Then when that student couldn't make it to the first lab meeting of the new year because the student's terminally ill uncle passed away and the student was out of town for the funeral, our advisor's response was "I'm speechless."
I'm speechless that someone could be so inhuman! You wouldn't even treat a stranger like this. I told the student to first of all see a therapist for the student's own mental health and then to talk with the graduate school confidentially so at least there is a record of this behavior. I also told the student to talk with the assistant dean, even though it's not 100% confidential, at least someone high up will know what is going on and the student can be somewhat protected. And if the assistant dean tells our advisor what the student complained about, even better! That might make the asshole change a bit and become human. Now I'm thinking of the grinch, whose heart was two sizes two small. Academics need to face consequences for their behavior and words. Until they are faced with very real consequences they will not change and students will always be at risk.
Side note: You ever notice how often my "academic" and "asshole" tags go together?
No comments:
Post a Comment