Are Graduate Faculty Exercising Academic Freedom or Abusing Students?

There are many stories about graduate students being mistreated and abused by faculty members. Graduate students have experienced faculty members stealing or plagiarizing their work, asking them to do personal chores, or neglecting their advising responsibilities. The authors of a new book examining faculty misconduct say this is just the "tip of the iceberg." A Columbia professor was fired for publishing advisee dissertation material on multiple occasions.

In Professors Behaving Badly: Faculty Misconduct in Graduate Education, Braxton, Proper, and Bayer surveyed 800 faculty in an effort to establish potential problematic behaviors in faculty. They suggested more stringent guidelines and discipline procedures should be created to protect students. Since many graduate students go on to be faculty members, the authors emphasized the importance of faculty modeling appropriate behaviors so graduate students don't continue the cycle of problematic behaviors as faculty.

In their survey, the authors asked faculty about problems that should not exist and should be punished if discovered on campus. The Chronicle of Higher Education overviews the 5 behaviors faculty found to be problematic:

1. Disrespect toward students' efforts
2. Misappropriation of students' work
3. Harassment of students
4. Suppression of whistle-blowing
5. Faculty-directed research malfeasance

There was a high level of agreement on these five issues. It is important to note that the authors did not research the frequency of these behaviors. They were looking to understand faculty perspectives on what should be considered a punishable offense.

The survey indicated that faculty recognized other behaviors were problematic, but not necessarily punishable (or at least a serious punishment was not necessary). Those were:

1. Neglectful teaching
2. Inadequate advising and mentoring
3. Belittling of faculty colleagues
4. Negligent advising on theses and dissertations
5. Insufficient course structure
6. Pedagogical narrowness
7. Abuse and misuse of students' time and efforts
8. Lack of concern for the welfare of the graduate program

To me, it is surprising that negligent advising, mentoring, or teaching to be problematic, but not worthy of disciplinary action. Are faculty being negligent or exercising their academic freedom?

The American Association of University Professors outlines general guidelines for ethical faculty behaviors, but does not provide specific examples of how these guidelines can be seen in day-to-day faculty functioning.

Students may recognize problematic, abusive, or unethical behaviors but may not have a way to report them. Students may be unable to report faculty harassment because the faculty member may have political influence in their department. Students may not come forward to report faculty because they may fear retribution. In the Columbia case, other faculty made the report about the plagiarism. This can be difficult for younger faculty who need the approval of their faculty to gain tenure. Student rely on their faculty to complete their programs and dissertation, which may make them hesitant to report problems with their advisors.

Where should students report problems? Whose responsibility is it to police abusive faculty?

If higher education does not manage faculty behavior, is it just a matter of time before students begin suing professors for harassment or plagiarism? In some cases, students have already taken their disputes to court. Is settling such serious problems in a court of law the best way for these to be managed?

Braxton, Proper, and Bayer hope to start the discussion about what universities can do to protect students, encourage ethical behaviors, and discipline faculty who cross the boundary into unethical or problematic behavior. What do you think?

Should there be stricter guidelines for graduate faculty behavior?

Do you feel some of the not-punishable problematic behaviors should result in discipline (or be on the first list)?

How should faculty behaviors be evaluated?

What forms of disciplinary actions can higher education use with faculty?