I am delighted that this issue is being considered at last. I was sexually assaulted by the adviser with whom I worked for four years. My experience culminated in a nervous breakdown, which landed me in a hospital for 8 days. After a year-and-a-half-long recovery, I returned to my dissertation. I have had extreme difficulty finding an adviser for my project because I had built few relationships with faculty other than the adviser who abused me. My situation may sound extraordinary, but it's hardly so. I know many female graduate students who have faced similar circumstances. Unfortunately, when so much depends upon a good recommendation, it's difficult to resist such pressures. Nor is there institutional support, for the most part, to report such incidents: no university wants bad press. Indeed, one's peers, although sympathetic to one's plight, can pressure one to keep quiet: they do not want to be known as the protégés of a sexual predator either. This issue deserves greater attention.
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