Imagine a professor throwing things at you from across the room. Imagine a professor telling you that you must have cheated off of a male student since there’s no way a woman could have gotten such a high grade. Imagine a professor screaming at the top of their lungs that you’re a failure. Imagine a professor laughing at a presentation that you’ve slaved over while you are presenting it to a room of people. Imagine a professor berating you so badly, for so long, that you need to leave school forever. Imagine a professor’s words devastating you to the point where you question your own worth.

These are not my stories — they are the stories of six of my friends, and they are representative of the things that can happen between graduate students and their advisors. If you are an undergraduate, it might be difficult or impossible for you to imagine Cornell professors behaving this way; if you are a graduate student, you’ve likely heard similar stories. Those who have experienced these stories will be angry at me for saying them out loud, even anonymously. But I am angry too. I am angry that so often, graduate students feel powerless in what are clearly abusive relationships. I am lucky to have an advisor who treats me as a peer and a friend. I am sorely aware that this is not always the case, and in many departments it is against the norm.

It is important to be clear that I hear the student’s side more often than the professor’s side. But it is safe to assume that if a student is not performing up to standard or even is a bad person, physical or emotional intimidation is never justified in the workplace. It is also safe to assume that graduate students have much less power than professors (and know it). A student yelling at a professor is less likely to send that professor into a nervous breakdown than the other way around. A student complaining about a professor is less likely to result in that professor being fired than the other way around.

In order to understand the graduate student-advisor relationship, it is best to think of graduate students as apprentices rather than university employees. The general culture in graduate school is that the professor is the best judge of the student’s work and worth. If a professor kicks a student out of his or her group, the decision is rarely contested by the student or by the department. Some departments have a grace period in which a student can find a new advisor. This can prove difficult, however, as being kicked out is largely a blacklisting. The advisor also holds the (sometimes sole) power to decide if the student passes a qualifying exam or degree defense. The advisor’s letter of recommendation is another way in which advisors wield enormous power of the future of a graduate student. 

Therefore graduate students often feel powerless to complain. I hear a lot of apologizing for unacceptable advisor behavior, and sometimes outright denial of a negative situation, not just from a few people, or a few departments, but all over campus: If I work harder maybe her/his opinion of me will change; All I need to do is stick it out one more year; She or he is just in a bad mood because a report is due; I know my advisor has a bad attitude, but she or he is the leader in the field.

And then there are the worries: If she or he ever finds out I talked with the DGS, I’ll be fired; She or he could tell other people in the field that they should work with me; What will my classmates think if they find out; Maybe I’m just not good enough.

The University is aware that there are sometimes negative relationships between graduate students and their advisors. Cornell has a formalized grievance procedure for both graduate students and advisors. The University provides safe space for graduate students who are willing to share their concerns — but what about those that aren’t?

There are a few things that could help. Foremost, cultural changes need to be made at the department level. Although many of these stories go untold, other faculty are not always 100 percent unaware of unacceptable behavior from peers. Their tenure status, department politics and friendships may prevent them from intervening. They need to intervene. Departments should encourage open, amicable relationships between students and advisors. Intimidation as an advisory tool should be disallowed. 

The University is unable to take action on stories that are left untold. Based on the number of examples I have heard from my peers during two years at Cornell, the vast majority of stories are left untold. An anonymous campus-wide survey about relationships between students and their advisors may help Cornell pinpoint issues of concern, departments with damaging cultures or new ways of helping students feel safe to report abuse. Until then, the stories of subtle or outrageous abuse will continue, unheard and unnoticed.

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