COLLOQUY

THE QUESTION

RESPONSES

BACKGROUND

This is not a situation specific to this one advisor and student, nor to one department or to one university. Rather, it seems indicative of the culture of graduate education in research universities. Simply put, advising and mentoring is not really recognized as a priority for institutions; where does advising fit in to research, teaching, and service? As such, who is looking out for the needs of the students?

Advising and mentoring vary widely by individual faculty, students, departments, and universities. Different situations call for different styles. But differences between individuals should not lead to lack of accountability and lack of concern. There should be some basic principles that we can all agree are important and that both students and faculty should be responsible for upholding them. And it must be someone's responsibility to be sure that they are.

But it goes beyond accountability to what makes up the potentially damaging culture in the first place. Support mechanisms are of vital importance, but they should not be the solutions to problems which should not exist in the first place. They are a response to the symptoms rather than a cure for the disease.

What has been largely missing from much of the discussion of advising is recognition that the underlying problem is one of the academic culture. Will it be changed overnight? Of course not. But without recognition that advising cannot be considered ad hoc, it won't even be discussed.

While the changes adopted in Harvard's Chemistry Department (thesis committees, social interaction, support services) are welcome, they are only a beginning. What good are thesis committees if all the members of your committee think the same way your advisor does and think you should be held to the same unreasonable expectations? What happens when your committee recognizes a problem, but is unwilling to intervene on your behalf with a senior colleague? What happens when they do intervene, but your advisor sees no reason to change? Further, just making resources available does not mean that students really will feel comfortable in taking advantage of them.

And however helpful the changes in the Harvard Chemistry Department may be, they are of minimal help to students in the other 46 graduate programs at Harvard, and of even less value to the many thousands of students at other graduate schools who experience the same problems.

-- Adam Fagen, Graduate Student, Harvard University (posted 12/10, 3 p.m., E.S.T.)

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