Interview with a someone who left a PhD program - OP posts his higher ed fanfic

[Manwithn0n0men]

Black out the names and post it here. Or, if you don't want to do that, find a news outlet that would maybe report on this. It's very unlikely that this happened.

Dont black out the names. If true no one deserves to be protected

This is not how PhD programs work, lol. Why would he be spending money? No fellowship?

Shhh I was wanting to see if his Bait had better material

 

[Stranger Neighbors]

Why didn't he just throw on some eyeshadow and a pretty dress BAM "diversity"

 

[JoyQ]

- The faculty and graduate students are listed on a website with pictures. The racial mix of students includes a single white person out of 25 members. Looking at an archive from 2016, the mix was 3 out of 28.

That’s in direct contradiction to what you said in the OP. If less than 10% is one race in the last 4 years no one is going to accuse the university of bias, and if they did they would be laughed off.

If this is true (which it isn’t) and your friend has evidence he should have immediately brought it to the press. Someone will take his case pro bono.

 

[DuckSucker]

Yeah really, this is such a highly implausible story that nobody is going to really put much faith in your word unless you post details, you can black out names pretty easily even in just paint.

I was also questioning about paying for it; admittedly I dont know anything about postgraduate education but I had read somewhere before that you dont pay for it entirely out of pocket at least. You get grants and sponsorships or something so they would be pissed if he just leaves without paying all that back, right?

 

[Yotsubaaa]

If he doesn't want to even bother to transfer because he buys what they were saying he's kinda dumb.

This. So what if his professor doesn't want to give him a reference/recommendation for the year or so of mostly admin and literature review he was doing at the start of his PhD research? Just apply to a different university on the strength of your postgrad/research papers/whatever it was that got you accepted in a PhD program at this university in the first place, and take a couple of seconds to prep a story about what you'd been doing for the past year 'instead'.

And besides, how hard can it be to transfer out of a fictitious, make-believe university anyway?

Yeah really, this is such a highly implausible story that nobody is going to really put much faith in your word unless you post details, you can black out names pretty easily even in just paint.

I was also questioning about paying for it; admittedly I dont know anything about postgraduate education but I had read somewhere before that you dont pay for it entirely out of pocket at least. You get grants and sponsorships or something so they would be pissed if he just leaves without paying all that back, right?

Yep.

 

[Ivan Shatov]

No one cares dude. Proof or shut up.

This is not how PhD programs work, lol. Why would he be spending money? No fellowship?

Honestly, I'm puzzled about what to do.

On the one hand, I'm not sure what's accomplished by publicly posting emails. My impression is this kid has been wronged, making him internet famous blows up his life and compounds that problem. While the story makes me question his judgement, he seemed content and chose to share all this in the context of a job interview. Maybe he left out some details, maybe they found a white sheet in his closet and that's the real reason. Maybe it's an interviewing tactic, maybe another employer would see this in a better light. I don't know.

On the other hand, these emails are insane. He's called a racist for being accepted into a graduate program. After he announces his intent to leave, another professor claims this is an admission of being a white supremacist and thus campus safety policies prohibit him from accessing school resources. They made sure the door hit him hard on the way out. Regardless of anyone's thoughts on diversity, this struck me as extreme. People probably have a right to know faculty treat people this way.

The information I posted about tuition is from their website. I didn't ask him what checks he wrote but assume there were costs involved. If PhD students don't pay full tuition, that probably made it easier for him to walk away.

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

 

[Hoopla]

Imagine not being paid for your PhD, but paying fees for working for the university instead. Maximum cucking.

 

[JoyQ]

Honestly, I'm puzzled about what to do.

On the one hand, I'm not sure what's accomplished by publicly posting emails. My impression is this kid has been wronged, making him internet famous blows up his life and compounds that problem. While the story makes me question his judgement, he seemed content and chose to share all this in the context of a job interview. Maybe he left out some details, maybe they found a white sheet in his closet and that's the real reason. Maybe it's an interviewing tactic, maybe another employer would see this in a better light. I don't know.

On the other hand, these emails are insane. He's called a racist for being accepted into a graduate program. After he announces his intent to leave, another professor claims this is an admission of being a white supremacist and thus campus safety policies prohibit him from accessing school resources. They made sure the door hit him hard on the way out. Regardless of anyone's thoughts on diversity, this struck me as extreme. People probably have a right to know faculty treat people this way.

The information I posted about tuition is from their website. I didn't ask him what checks he wrote but assume there were costs involved. If PhD students don't pay full tuition, that probably made it easier for him to walk away.

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

There is no middle ground. You shouldn’t have posted this guy’s story in the first place without his permission. You are most likely not getting the whole story and if you were hiring this guy who took this without fighting back is stupid because he is either hiding something or incredibly dumb.

Not sure why you thought you could come onto a site where there is autistic screeching when something isn’t archived and not provide proof.

 

[HeyYou]

Honestly, I'm puzzled about what to do.

On the one hand, I'm not sure what's accomplished by publicly posting emails. My impression is this kid has been wronged, making him internet famous blows up his life and compounds that problem. While the story makes me question his judgement, he seemed content and chose to share all this in the context of a job interview. Maybe he left out some details, maybe they found a white sheet in his closet and that's the real reason. Maybe it's an interviewing tactic, maybe another employer would see this in a better light. I don't know.

On the other hand, these emails are insane. He's called a racist for being accepted into a graduate program. After he announces his intent to leave, another professor claims this is an admission of being a white supremacist and thus campus safety policies prohibit him from accessing school resources. They made sure the door hit him hard on the way out. Regardless of anyone's thoughts on diversity, this struck me as extreme. People probably have a right to know faculty treat people this way.

The information I posted about tuition is from their website. I didn't ask him what checks he wrote but assume there were costs involved. If PhD students don't pay full tuition, that probably made it easier for him to walk away.

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

Either post it or don't, long winded hand wringing posts are for faggots.

Imagine not being paid for your PhD, but paying fees for working for the university instead. Maximum cucking.

Tons of fellowships pay for grad school. If you're paying for nearly all the costs of going to grad school you're either a dipshit or getting a terrible degree.

 

[Yotsubaaa]

Honestly, I'm puzzled about what to do.

On the one hand, I'm not sure what's accomplished by publicly posting emails. My impression is this kid has been wronged, making him internet famous blows up his life and compounds that problem. While the story makes me question his judgement, he seemed content and chose to share all this in the context of a job interview. Maybe he left out some details, maybe they found a white sheet in his closet and that's the real reason. Maybe it's an interviewing tactic, maybe another employer would see this in a better light. I don't know.

Yeah, nothing about that adds up. Assuming you're telling the truth and you're not just taking us for a ride, then he's the one taking you for a ride.

On the other hand, these emails are insane. He's called a racist for being accepted into a graduate program. After he announces his intent to leave, another professor claims this is an admission of being a white supremacist and thus campus safety policies prohibit him from accessing school resources. They made sure the door hit him hard on the way out. Regardless of anyone's thoughts on diversity, this struck me as extreme. People probably have a right to know faculty treat people this way.

They sure did! Again, assuming you aren't pulling this out of your ass, this guy isn't telling you the actual story.

The information I posted about tuition is from their website. I didn't ask him what checks he wrote but assume there were costs involved. If PhD students don't pay full tuition, that probably made it easier for him to walk away.

Yeah. It differs depending on country, but generally PhD tuition is subsidized, and often through publicly-funded scholarships. One of the reasons for this is to ('help') ensure that what people are spending all this time doing PhD research on is actually of use to the public and not just mental wank for the sake of it. (Of course, that's the ideal. Modern academia is a fucking joke in many ways.)

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

Do it faggot
I dunno, you could've just not said anything to us about it in the first place?

 

[gobbogobb]

Guys you don't get it we're supposed to just listen and believe remember?

Never mind that this story would be national news if it were true.

Listen
Believe

 

[Billy "the Bot" Bobson]

MIT fags deserve it tbh

 

[Jewthulhu]

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

Stop being a faggot and black out the names and university if you're that concerned.

 

[A Welsh Cake]

>Doing a PhD in the first place
>In engineering no less

A degree is all you need, then you wanna escape academia and start the rat race.

 

[Okkervils]

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

Leaving the site, preferably.

 

[Kaede Did Nothing Wrong]

in the off chance you're not full of shit then what you're describing is serious ethical violation imo, if not outright illegal. and if you're saying you have direct proof of how this exchange went down from emails then you're in a privileged position to blow a whistle.

What's the middle ground between posting his emails here and shutting up about it?

reach out to the prominent right-leaning journalists of your choice. try people who aren't retarded cows first. they'll probably first follow up with the university for comment. university lawyers (who will likely understand the gravity of this better than the other faculty in question) will shit themselves and say they're starting an investigation (i.e. ass covering). if it's real then the bullshit factory of the media cycle will feed on it for a short while.

if you dump it on kf then your irl identity + this information will be immediately associated with a "hate site." it'd also be great optics for the university.

 

[ricecake]

Their notes back were insulting, saying they were glad he was leaving, accusing both the student and the professor of being racists for letting him in the first place.

PhD candidates are accepted by committee. Even the ones courted by professors and encouraged to apply. These same faculty members would have signed off on his acceptance. Story is total bullshit.

Wonder what egregious thing this guy did that isn't being discussed?

 

[Recoil]

Your friend got hooked on drugs or something equally stupid halfway through his PHD, flew the proverbial plane into the mountain and is now feeding you this story

 

[TFT-A9]

Someone's getting BSed in this thread and it ain't me.

 

[AirdropShitposts]

If you're really conflicted and feel you need to do SOMETHING. Post some of the e-mails here, block/edit out the names and e-mail handles, but leave the school.edu. Kiwis will tell you how bullshit or real it is. Though you can probably tell how the thread is leaning already.

I'm not saying that it's entirely impossible that a student was forced to leave a PhD program and the professors all sent him nasty e-mails on the way out. But any experience with high level academia will give you hundreds of reasons to think this is highly unlikely. Especially from an Ivy League or similar type school as you're suggesting. That's one hell of a paper trail for something that could be accomplished entirely in person.

The additional details you've given make it seem even more unlikely that it was because he was a white male. Even a school full-on into hardcore affirmative action will take a white male who looks to be highly successful no matter what as the money value is too high. He'd pay back for tens of charity cases.