Anonymous wrote:Your not going to get anything by trying to uncover their affair at this point.
What you and the 3 others who have concerns need to do is contact this advisor and address his availability. Document your attempts to contact him.
If you get no response or if the response is not satisfactory then the 3 of you go over his head with the same complaint, you are not being adequately advised etc. They aren't going to ignore 4 people with the same complaint.
And even if there's no sexual relationship, the prof's chair needs to talk to him about appearances. It's important to not look like you're abusing your power even if you're not abusing it. I had a colleague who had a screen saver with lots of pictures of gorgeous young men. I talked to him about changing his screen saver because of the impression it might give his students. And before people accuse me of homophobia, I would have said the same to a male professor with a screensaver full of gorgeous young women. It's not appropriate for professors to do that regardless of their sexual identity.Anonymous wrote:If they're really spending 9-16 hours a week in his office, with the door closed, having some kind of sexual encounter, you don't even need to consider reporting them. He is exercising such poor judgment that this whole thing is going to explode before you know it, and you don't want to be anywhere near the shrapnel.
(FTR, I'm the professor above, and my educated guess is that this student will mysteriously drop out of the program in the next 6-9 months, her career ruined, and his career and reputation unblemished. No one will ever know exactly what happened. So, while I still suspect that this whole scenario will explode, I bet it will be entirely at the expense of the female grad student. Not that I've seen this scenario more than once or anything.)
First - if there is something going on, the chances are very good that the university has regulations against this kind of thing. It doesn't matter whether the professor is married. What matters is that he is in a position of power over the graduate student and it is completely inappropriate for him to have a sexual relationship with her because it's too easy to abuse his power. But the fact is that you don't know if that is true - so you have to tread carefully on this one.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do you KNOW they're sleeping together, or are you just making assumptions? If you know it as fact, submit a complaint through whatever administrative mechanism your institution has in place.
I do not know anything. A few students have been complaining about their relationship.
Anonymous wrote:You need a new advisor OP.
If you can get a new advisor, do so sooner rather than later. If his behavior is becoming erratic, the possible "girlfriend" may be the least of his problems, and you don't want this guy to leave you in a lurch right at the end of your dissertation. If he keeps on canceling your meetings for bizarre reasons every week, either he's in crisis or he doesn't want to meet with you.
Talk to whoever you need to, to request someone new. Just tell them you haven't been able to meet with your current advisor, he doesn't seem to want to advise you, and that it's time to switch. Better do so now than to have this professor sabotage your research.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Should I submit an anonymous complaint? Why else would my Ph.D. adviser be having closed door meetings for hours on end? He never closes the door when we meet. The student has even finished his qualifying exams so I know they aren't working on research. The fact that he's married really pisses me off too.
I meant to write she hasn't NOT finished her qualifying exams.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They're both legal adults - why do you care.
Potential favoritism?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:LOL at how many bootlickers in this thread are falling over themselves to defend an authority figure.
Lots of cheaters on here obviously
+1. This thread is full of defensive adulterers.
Spare me, pot stirrer.
Male professor has office door closed with female student...OP jumps to conclusion that they're dating, and he should saying something about it.
What? That's quite the mental leap. I guess OP's PhD isn't going to be in logic and reasoning.