Do professors at elite universities have too much power over their graduate students, to the point where the students' mental health is seriously endangered? If it is true, what can be done about it?
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"This is my first semester at a university. I am not the brightest person you will ever meet but every day I ask myself what I make myself come here for..."
"Too much of a dream or too many expectations will lead to tragedies if there was no way to fulfill that dream..."
"If Harvard University offers any support resources for graduate students..."
"I went through graduate school at a major state university..."
"Occasionally, the routine of everyday life is shattered when the nightmare of what could easily be our own desperate situations..."
"The article commits the common journalistic error of seeing a trend where none exists..."
"The University of Alberta is a major research-intensive university..."
"People are often too quick to lay blame (or absolve themselves of it) than they are to take responsibility..."
"I found the article and discussion of the Chemistry Graduate student at Harvard U..."
"To go to such an elite university like Harvard, one can look at the situation from two sides..."
"Academia reminds me of a child's pet turtle race..."
"So. Now that the discussion has died, after all is said and done..."
"I pursued a great field for financing my graduate education - engineering..."
"As a recent graduate of a Midwest university, I was extremely fortunate to have a compassionate and level-headed advisor..."
"In my Ph.D. program, the mean time to graduation was 7 years..."
"I was shocked and appalled at the blanket comment that the problems of graduate students..."
"I've been working on my Ph.D. at Michigan State University for several years now, and have found the process grueling..."
"The following editorial at the Graduate Student Caucus of the MLA has a nice response..."
"I was a member of a graduate faculty for 36 years at a major, but not elite, university..."
"It isn't only Ivy League grad students who are affected, although they may have issues specific to elite students..."
"Graduate study is a demanding and exhausting experience. I did not study in the Ivy League,..."
"I suspect that abusive behavior of advisors of graduate students is not uncommon..."
"Most of the responses thus far concern graduate studies in the sciences, but I suspect that the origins of the misery shared by many graduate students..."
"Hasn't anybody had a good experience in grad school?..."
"The hard part about the issue is that there are no easy answers..."
"Abuse at elite, or 'non-elite' institutions has and will continue to occur to graduate students..."
"Yes, I agree that graduate advisers can have a detrimental or beneficial effect on the mental health of a graduate student,..."
"Biosource Inc. is the oldest recruitment firm in the biotechnology industry. Perhaps we see a different part of the elephant..."
"There is virtually universal agreement that oversight of graduate studies needs to be changed..."
"Thank you for opening up this great debate! My seven years in grad school were at least four years longer than necessary..."
"My experiences in graduate school provided me with the best possible preparation for the U.S. job market..."
"One thing that is being lost in all this is while there are horror stories a plenty, there are good programs out there..."
"As a former Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering, I was ill-informed about the options that were out there..."
"Two issues that haven't really been addressed in this ongoing forum:..."
"With regard to the power of university profs over students: The fact is, the combination of tenure laws in most states combined with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling..."
"I am not the least bit surprised. To be a graduate student often means dealing with conflicting information/feedback from 3 or more people,..."
"I was saddened and delighted to see the comments regarding professors, graduate students, and mental health..."
"Yes, I agree that seeking out the ideal advisor reduces the chance of acquiring a poor advisor..."
"Thank you for starting a dialogue on this much needed topic..."
"To put it mildly, reading this story had a huge impact on my own (still painful) recollections of my doctoral passage..."
"Typically, I glance at most of the articles in The Chronicle, however the one about the suicide of Mr. Altom..."
"One big problem with graduate school is that it's like being a child again..."
"From my experience as a doctoral student, I would not be surprised to learn of more suicides or maybe even homicides related to the way doctoral students are treated..."
"I was reading some of the responses to the issue of graduate students being abused. I have been in my program for over 3 years..."
"I am delighted that this issue is being considered at last..."
"Yes, major profs exert undue power in dealing with grad students. What's the problem here?..."
"Graduate school at elite institutions tends to be fear-filled and competitive, perhaps all the more so in an era when so few will find tenure-track jobs..."
"I personally have experienced almost the exact same circumstances as you..."
"The fact that graduate student life needs attention prompted the publication of a book..."
"No longer a chemistry Ph.D. candidate, I can reflect on the truth of many concerns raised in your article..."
"That the suicide of Jason D. Altom at Harvard University is a terrible tragedy cannot be denied..."
"After attempting to pursue graduate studies at another institution that blatantly 'failed' me in terms of providing valuable academic guidance..."
"So moved by the issue I will give my newspaper column space to this issue..."
"'Mostly, once an important faculty member has shown dislike for a student, that student is cut out of the student/faculty loop: the leper is expelled.' This happened to me..."
"On the basis of my own limited experience, faculty are as likely as graduate students to commit suicide..."
"When I graduated from Harvard College in June 1995, the faculty and the national media were asking themselves the same set of questions about student life at the undergraduate level..."
"While I am very sympathetic to those graduate students who have been (and are being) abused, it doesn't have to be that way..."
"Although it is a natural response to attempt to find blame in such tragic situations,..."
"Mr. Altom's case is sad, to say the least. And yes, this sentiment is not uncommon in most research institutions..."
"I agree with "Anonymous Ph.D. student" that a big factor is that no one is policing advisors..."
"I think one of the biggest reasons why we have a system that allows faculty to abuse students and destroy lives is because no one in the academy is watching..."
"Is three suicides out of 600 graduate advisees greater than can be expected by chance?..."
"Human beings vary greatly in personality and patience. Faculty and students reflect those variations..."
"My dissertation experience was harrowing. I attempted a qualitative phenomenology without having much training in such research..."
"I provide the following for historical perspective on what one respondent has called, 'the politics of knowledge production.'..."
"Both my own experience, and my thesis revolved around this issue..."
"I find it interesting that all three who have responded so far seem to be women, although a male committed the latest suicide..."
"I remember when I was an undergraduate in South Carolina. The professors would always tell us how unimportant grades were..."
"In my own research on doctoral experiences students described repeated instances in which the climate in their department and the relationship with their advisor contributed to unhealthy..."
"'To whom much is given, much is required'..." Many people now question how someone as bright as President Clinton could engage in the type of risky behavior..."
"In doing research on graduate student attrition (survey of 816 completers and noncompleters from the same cohort, of which 305 were noncompleters, and in-depth telephone interviews with 30 of the noncompleters),..."
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