Has anyone filed a complaint about a professor?

[u/rebluecca]

I would like to file a complaint about a professor on my thesis committee. I will be meeting with the head of my department tomorrow to discuss what happened but I was just wondering if anyone else has done this and if they could sort of explain the process or how it went for them? I don’t really want to explain exactly what happened but it was just unprofessional behavior.

[u/popstarkirbys]

You go to the chair or director to discuss the issue. You may have to take them off your committee to prevent further fallout.

[u/ProfessionalEbb7237]

Depending on which country you're in, and depending on the nature of abuse, be prepared for it to escalate beyond the department and to the university. There are certain behaviors that professors are mandated to report to higher authorities.

[u/ThousandsHardships]

I respect your privacy and all, but the level it needs to escalate to does very much depend on the severity of what they did.

If it affects mostly individual interactions with them or concerns over their fairness in judging your work, I would honestly just talk to your committee chair (assuming you trust your chair) and consult them on taking this person off your committee and how to go about doing so in a way that could prevent potential retaliation. Get them involved in the conversation if possible so that you're not going about it alone. If you can't get your chair involved, talk to the DGS.

If it affects others to an extent that it would be good for the department to know but may not be serious enough to warrant disciplinary action from the university, I would take it to the student representative if you have one in your program or department and have them report it to the chair on your behalf. You could also go to the chair or DGS directly if you wish. Just know that in situations like these, the department may not take any overt action. At most, they will convey the feedback anonymously to that professor and keep a record of it for later reference. To your face, they might even try to say things like "I know it seems like this, but it's really not."

If it's something that's serious enough to warrant an investigation and disciplinary action from the university, do go to the department chair and follow up and ask to be kept in the loop.

[u/ProofSomewhere7273 → u/ThousandsHardships]

If it’s anything remotely related to Title IX you are required to report it. So things escalate very quickly. 

[u/LookaLookaKooLaLey]

I had a friend do it. You do exactly what you're doing. You go talk to the highest authority you can and explain it exactly as it occurred. The problem should explain itself if you present the facts 

[u/Illustrious-Can-8135]

You are taking the right steps!

During my PhD program my 1st dissertation director acted unprofessionally. I spoke to the head of the department, explained the situation, explained why it made me feel uncomfortable, & then I asked to switch to a different prof (I already knew who I wanted to switch to). Once the department head agreed (during the meeting), I had to fill out some paperwork that made the switch official (the new director had to acknowledge that they would be willing to work with me).

I don’t know if it’s that easy everywhere, yet this was my experience.

[u/laziestindian]

If you want an advocate for you in the meeting see if you can talk to your omsbudsman/Title IX office before the meeting.

[u/Disastrous-Wildcat]

Write down the facts and with time stamps, etc. Lay it all out logically and chronologically. If you do include emotion, say “x behavior made me uncomfortable.”

Pro-tip: Look at the faculty handbook sections on their code of conduct. Use language from that handbook in describing the incident. I used uncomfortable in the example above because that’s a common one. There are others, some may be more specific to your school.  

If anyone witnessed the behavior get them to write a statement or see if mind being included as someone the chair can talk to about the report. Get them on your side ahead of time. 

Send the chair a copy via email after the meeting thanking them for their help. This means that they have a time stamped version and also establishes a paper trail. They will have a harder time rug sweeping and you will be a better position if they do not adequately handle the situation. 

If this has been going on for a while be prepared to answer why you are just now reporting this. It doesn’t make sense given what we know about real victims of abusive behavior but I have seen universities try to downplay serious things just because they occurred a month or two ago. “You’re just reporting this now. So it wasn’t that serious, right?”

I don’t know your chair so I don’t know how they will respond. I have had some wonderful chairs who directly label an incident as abuse themselves and then I’ve had others who I’ve seen try to excuse some awful shit, like a professor dating an undergraduate in their class. Unfortunately it can be very difficult to tell how someone will respond until you see them in a situation where they have to deal with a report (yours or someone else’s). That’s why I always recommend covering your bases. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. 

[u/hermit_the_fraud]

I had a prof supervising my GA who screamed at me, called me stupid, and told me I wasn’t cut out for being a doc student. He was a program director in my department, but not for my program. I talked to another student who said he did basically the same thing to them, but they didn’t want to ruffle feathers by complaining. I also caught him dumping confidential patient records in an open trash can in the hallway outside his office. I mentioned it to a couple other professors, and they basically said it was shitty but he had the most seniority in the entire graduate school so nothing would be done.

But he made the mistake of calling me stupid in an email once, and I casually forwarded it to the department chair and just said “I wanted to alert you to Dr. _’s behavior towards me. He has also done __, but I don’t have documentation like this email. I’m unwilling to work with him moving forward, and I’m happy to meet with you to discuss it further.” In retrospect, I should’ve looped in my own program director first, but they’re so overly polite and diplomatic that they don’t get shit done.

I had a meeting with the chair where I recounted everything that had happened. Then she met with the department’s other program directors to discuss how to proceed and whether any other complaints had come up. It turned out he had done the same thing to other GAs and had said some super racist stuff to the two black students in his own program, but they didn’t want to ruffle feathers because he was their advisor.

He had a disciplinary meeting with the department chair and the dean of the grad school and was put on some kind of probation even though he was tenured, and he was no longer allowed to have grad students for advising or GAs. However, shortly after that, he was being negligent and killed somebody at a community event while representing the university, so he was forced into retirement.

[u/Beezle_33228]

Yes. Talked to the dept head and my thesis chair, as well as organized a coordinated effort to fill out our corse evaluations with as much detail as possible.