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[lazslo44]

What protections should be afforded to whistleblowers at universities, particularly to individuals without a formal contract?

http://barnabasredux.wordpress.com

If anyone else has had personal experience with whistleblower retaliation, I would be interested to compare and contrast accounts.

[larryc]

I have no idea of the truth of anything in your blog. You may indeed have been dealt a grave injustice. But at some point a failure to move on becomes in itself a very bad sign that someone is not right. Potential employers, business partners and spouses find that a person has a whole webpage set up to document some alleged outrage and they naturally think--"Wow, this person is really obsessive. Stay away."

We used to have another frequent poster here who tried to steer every conversation towards the great injustices visited upon him when he was kicked out of graduate school a dozen years ago. He had a website very similar to yours--lots of emails and links, a disorganized archive of his obsession. It had a strong whiff of THE CRAZY and served to undermine instead of advance his own cause. 

For your own sake you should take down that website and move on.

[lazslo44]

I have no idea of the truth of anything in your blog. You may indeed have been dealt a grave injustice. But at some point a failure to move on becomes in itself a very bad sign that someone is not right. Potential employers, business partners and spouses find that a person has a whole webpage set up to document some alleged outrage and they naturally think--"Wow, this person is really obsessive. Stay away."

We used to have another frequent poster here who tried to steer every conversation towards the great injustices visited upon him when he was kicked out of graduate school a dozen years ago. He had a website very similar to yours--lots of emails and links, a disorganized archive of his obsession. It had a strong whiff of THE CRAZY and served to undermine instead of advance his own cause. 

For your own sake you should take down that website and move on.

Thanks for the post as it highlights an important point. I've been rather successful professionally and personally since this event, so in that regard I have moved on. If it were rendering me unable to achieve success, you post would have even more merit.

No doubt filing an NIH report took a great amount of time. That was a task I took very seriously. Posting that report on a blog, on the other hand, took very little time.  Regarding to "a whiff of the crazy," it's that kind of comment that I take issue with most. In my limited experience in talking with a very limited number of whistleblowers, simply by making an allegation brings unwarranted scrutiny to one's sanity, and fighting that simply feeds into that misperception even more. Rather than dismissed, it's this sort of phenomenon that should be talked about openly.

[larryc]

Oh absolutely--but you need to raise it through some sort of professional or legal channels. The blog undermines what you are trying to do, if only because it falls into a category of very similar blogs. If you have run through all the possible channels for redress and failed, it is time to let it go--even if you are in the right.

[tee_bee]

Meh. Axe, meet grindstone.

I am all for whistleblowing and protection of whistleblowers. But when someone blogs about their experience, I start to wonder how cooperative the complainant was in the whistleblower process.

[lazslo44]

Thanks for the comments and for identifying what is likely a real element of naivete. It's helpful to see things from a less partial perspective (i.e. not my supportive peers). Being informed of other similarly themed blogs is helpful, and it's a healthy reminder to be aware of the perception of guilt by association. Mine was never meant to be a permanent site, but with your advice perhaps I will take it down sooner rather than later. You're certainly right: there is a balance between trying to effect change and moving on. This is just the first time in my career when I've felt comfortable discussing the matter openly.

To address tee_bee's point, I think the frustrating part was that it's impossible to be cooperative with a whistleblower process when there is no process, when there are no professional or legal channels. Hence, the purpose of the original post.  I do, however, think it's a topic that is deserving of discussion, whether that be here or elsewhere, and one that folds well into a larger one about the precarious nature of graduate and even postdoctoral studies in the basic sciences.

Never hoping or expecting to use one in the future, I'm nevertheless envious of those at progressive institutions that offer basic protective mechanisms through an Ombuds Office or an equivalent.

[larryc]

Good luck to you. We all get screwed over at some point, the question is whether you let it define you. Clearly you are making the right choice in not doing so.

[mystictechgal]

In all curiosity and honest naieveté, if you have moved on and been successful, and presumably have gotten the redress you sought--or, at least, have managed that best revenge--that of being successful in spite of your enemies attempts to quash you, why still actively drawing attention to it? You have, by your own statement, managed to rise above it and go on to success. By continuing to draw attention to it you merely draw attention to your enemies, cause people to renew the argument and speculate that they, perhaps, might have been in the right, and cast suspicions about your own ability to let it go now that you have (apparently) won, as shown by your subsequent success.

You only move on by moving on. You can't really argue that you've moved on when you are still actively demonstrating that you are immersed in the past. Let it go. You're beyond it. There's no need to keep pointing to it. Scabs don't heal when they keep getting picked.

[alleyoxenfree]

You are kidding yourself if you think an Ombudsman Office affords any protection.  It does not.  It is merely a place to vent.  Essentially, the Ombudsman works for the university and anything you tell him or her should not be assumed to be confidential, even if they tell you it is.  They do not have legal confidentiality the way a psychologist does.

I haven't perused your whole blog but agree with others that you should attempt to find ways to move on.  Line up other letters from people who agreed with you or at least thought you got a raw deal.  Life is unfair and whistleblowers are usually great people who do not understand that.  You can't win in most situations - you can protect yourself, get yourself into a better, more secure position, and from that position, you might be able to do something to help in your field. 

Or you may find that you like your new life and you like seeing them only in the rear view mirror.  Do yourself a favor and run far and fast from these people.  In a year or two, you will feel back on an even keel, and they will likely do themselves in in some other way.

[oldfullprof]

It's done me a lot of good, I think, to complain frequently about Mafia Tech.  I've talked about them here, posted on them on Universities to Fear, and put them up on at least one academic bullying website.  My wife and I decided not to sue them, so this will have to do, but it's been therapeutic.

[heptameron]

What is "Mafia Tech"?

[marigolds]

OFP's previous, awful employer.

OP, your measured and gracious responses here go a long way towards deodorizing any crazywhiffs that the blog may emit. 

[oldfullprof]

The SUNY located within five miles of Hamilton College.  Not Morrisville.