COLLOQUY

THE QUESTION

RESPONSES

BACKGROUND

It seems like stories such as the one that is the focus of this article are classic cases of "abuse", but for whatever reasons that elude me, universities are very difficult to hold accountable for such behaviors toward their students. Why? Has the academy become totally amoral as a social institution in late 20th century America? What is it modeling for those of us who look to provide a more humane vision of the world for our students, if our academic institutions enable these kinds of behaviors with impunity?

I had a horrendous experience with my former advisor in my final year of my Ph.D. program, but ironically, it was only once my research began to get attention from others beyond my own institution, such as the American Educational Research Association and the Journal of Higher Education (where I was invited to publish a portion of my dissertation in a special issue devoted to retrenchment in higher education, in 1993). But having worked with graduate students for more than 10 years (as a Graduate Teaching Fellows' Union manager, as a counselor, as a graduate Dean's special assistant, and eventually, as a mentor to other students) from 1985 to 1997, I have long recognized something which I included in my own post-doctoral research published in 1995: a "survival of the fittest" ethic has very much taken over in the academy, and for those of us who choose topics that have significant political content or overtones (as my topic--retrenchment in public higher education and its impact on faculty and graduate student morale--most certainly did), there are also great dangers in doing work that is too "cutting edge."

American higher education is far too obsessed with the "prestige game" in universities, to the detriment of those of us who have a lot to offer except for an "upper class pedigree" Ph.D. next to our name. Having done undergraduate work at an elite institution in the midwest, I was far happier doing graduate work at a public "non-elite" institution, not because the work was easier, but because there was a commitment to a "public interest" mission in the latter institution as well as a richer interdisciplinary intellectual community--at least when I began there in 1981. Sadly, however, I believe the Reagan and Bush years more than amply succeeded in widening the gap between "rich" and "poor" universities, creating an ever-growing system of stratification across all of higher education in the U.S.

Never mind what they tell you, that you need to forward "original knowledge" in your dissertation. If it in any way threatens your committee or your department's intellectual version of the "truth", you may get in more trouble with your committee (upon which, of course, you are ultimately dependent for references when you graduate) than you'll ever benefit from being a "star graduate student". And of course, if you create something really original, your professors may just want to take advantage of it--to your own personal detriment. Don't ever publish your "best stuff" in your dissertation--save it til after you're out of there and you can truly claim some intellectual property for yourself. Otherwise, it may take you a long time to regain your own personal "voice" as a researcher and a scholar. That is the sage wisdom I obtained from my experience.

I believe this whole dilemma is bound up (at least, in the 1990s) in the politics of retrenchment and downsizing in the academic profession. Graduate students may be the "soft underbelly" of the academy, but when times get tough (has anyone read Barbara Ehrenreich's book Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class?), graduate students' work all too often becomes a basis for faculty to build their own careers, free for the most part from any institutional sanctions against exploiting the ideas originally created by their students. In fact, many institutions protect this aspect of intellectual property creation: the student and his or her work is often treated as "property of the university" until the student graduates. I "know" this is true: I've interviewed hundreds of people over the years who have first-hand experience with it, and I've read lots of articles in The Chronicle that confirm it. But I suspect most graduate students aren't aware of it--and would never willingly consent to letting their advisors take advantage of their own work if they could possibly guard against it.

As a way of trying to help bring some humanity back into the academic process, my response since 1993 has been to form an online discussion list about graduate education issues. It is under the auspices of the American Educational Research Association:

AERA-GSL Graduate Studies Discussion List:

http://www.teleport.com/~skerlin/aera-gsl.html

Anyone interested in the future of graduate education is welcome to join our forum and continue discussing these issues with us.

I also have two articles available on-line (published in the Education Policy Analysis Archives) from a symposium session at AERA that I chaired in 1995: "Pursuit of the Ph.D.'Survival of the Fittest,' or is it Time for a New Approach?" (http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n16.html) and "Surviving the Doctoral Years: Critical Perspectives" (http://olam.ed.asu.edu/epaa/v3n17.html)

I believe the stakes for career development opportunities in the academic profession have become incredibly high for younger scholars, and the needs of one generation of scholars (i.e. the 1990s doctoral students) are being sacrificed in order to preserve the status of an earlier generation of established academics that is threatened by our "postmodern" perspectives or is perhaps just plain unwilling to retire and pass the baton. "The old being pregnant with the new yet unable to give birth" seems quite appropriate an analogy to me!

I appreciate this topic being raised on this forum--I believe it is extremely significant, and suggests a substantial reconsideration of ethical issues and enrollment policies in graduate education is in order. But will it happen? I'm not very optimistic.

-- Scott Kerlin, Ph.D., Lecturer, Washington State University/Vancouver (posted 10/26, 11:11 a.m., E.S.T.)

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