Wow, I like what you've done badhaircut! That's a nice idea.

I've been chewing the cud a bit since I posted... I wanted everyone's views.

But I do agree very strongly with drwhoknows' view that it doesn't stop at PhD level and that it continues throughout academia. If we apply a procedure/system just to PhD students, then they'll only get bullied out of their jobs when they qualify!!!! I mean it makes it totally useless then, doesn't it?!

It feels like you have to tackle the whole thing.. and that is one, big, evil monster.

I think you should just walk away. Fair enough you have been bullied and felt mistreated along with other students, but sometimes you need to bite your teeth and bear with it. Many other students have been in the same situation and I personally know of a few others who shared same circumstances.

You've finished your Phd so you should just leave the rest in the past. I wouldn't mess up your future career just over one complaint. I don't think that was a threat from the internal examiner as such, but more of a bit of advice on what the consequences would be. At least they warned you!

But just "walking away" means nothing is addressed and you are partly (by proxy) guilty for the abuse that follows.

Slightly more extreme scenario, but would you advise a young girl who had been sexually or physically abused by an adult to "bite your teeth and and bear with it?" and to "Leave it in the past" or would you want something changed, provisions made for that adult to never do it again?

If you agree that something should be done in cases of abuse, action should be taken for ALL cases of abuse, physical sexual or (in PhD students case) psychological.

If something is so endemic it warrants its own blog

http://bulliedacademics.blogspot.com/

we all have to make some sort of stand even if only to assuage our own conscience.

I feel sorry for anyone who has had to go through the kind of BS people are outlining in this thread. It's this kind of behaviour which cost me my place at one of the worlds best universities. if anything it makes me ever more determined to get a PhD and have a successful academic career. i qoute an irish slogan: 'tiocfaidh ar la'( we will have our day)

This is interesting, but doesn't match my experience, nor the experience of any of my friends who have been through the PhD process. I don't dispute it goes on but unless I'm wrong most PhD students have no problem with the system.

In any profession there are a number of bad eggs. The problem is, academia is a small pond and if you start making big waves then everyone gets to know about it and I very much doubt you'd win. You'd just end up with baggage that prospective future employers will wish to avoid in favour of a quieter life with someone less burdened. Sorry to be blunt, but washing your dirty linen in public is not the way. Can you not ask for a meeting with your sup to clear the air?

OK, just re-reading my previous remark. I'm not disputing your position - you certainly have a right to be upset. I'm merely trying to place it in the context of the bigger picture that most people pass through with no significant issues, hence no need for a pressure group. However, one slightly less combative approach might be to form some sort of Association of PhD Students which is there to improve the PhD student's experience. For instance, it could appoint a mediator to liaise with universities over disputes etc.

Why don't you approach the "Times High Education Supplement" & pitch an article about this subject to them. You're in an ideal position to get excellent quotes, and I think they'd really go for it. They seem to like a bit of drama, and inadqeute supervision of graduate students has been a hot topic of late ...

OK, I like that approach.. going to think about going the TES and giving them a story.

If I write an article is there anyone there who can proofread it/add things to it, for/with me??

I certainly will help, QTPie - both with quotes & also proof-reading. I used to be an English teacher, so will gladly cover your writing back. Hehe.

OK, great, I'll get the ball rolling.....

Sylvester, I think you make a good point. It is obviously an awful situation that QT and others find themselves in, but it is not the norm. I wish you all the best of luck, but I do hope you won't give the impression that all academic institutions are this bad. PhD students have a phenomenal amount of support and protection at my institution.

I hope QT and others can make a new start at a friendlier place - they do exist

I've thought about this some more, and I'm afraid that I still believe you're on a hiding to nothing if you take the retribution route. Rather than concentrating your energy on a negative strategy (and subsequently destroying your academic career with it), focus your energy on doing something positive like moving on.

Indeed, if your aim is a career in academia then you do not currently have the clout to challenge the rules. Move on, play the game, and if in a few years time when you've made it but still feel the same way, then consider what you can do to improve the PhD experience for students in general. By that stage, your former supervisor will be a distant memory and hardly worth expending your energy on.

I have been thinking of some of Sylvesters points.

I too agree that although bullying in academia is endemic it is not the "norm" in many fields. I saw some people go through their entire academic careers without any such pressure, in the same way I knew people who went through school without being bullied. If you really think about it, there is no functioning context where bullying is the "norm" otherwise that system would not last more than a few years at best.

However, there is a significant minority that ARE being bullied, and by standing by and doing nothing you are complicit in maintaining the wall of silence. By disuading others from action (even under the benign intention of "moving on") it is allowing the injustice to carry on.

We need to have examples of students that have taken on the system, achieved justice AND THEN prospered afterwards. If everyone is scared it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.