[HN Gopher] Abuse at the Max-Planck Institutes in Germany
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       Abuse at the Max-Planck Institutes in Germany
        
       Author : lentoutcry
       Score  : 19 points
       Date   : 2025-03-14 18:45 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.dw.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.dw.com)
        
       | nautilius wrote:
       | Main news for me here is that this is (still?) considered
       | newsworthy in Germany.
       | 
       | At top US universities, I've been threatened with deportation,
       | yelled at, prevented from going to faculty job interviews, credit
       | to my work removed, papers highjacked and my name removed after I
       | developed the initial idea and the break-thru analysis, etc.
       | 
       | There is no way out: you're relying on supporting letters of
       | reference from your advisors at least until you're tenured. Your
       | advisor doesn't like you? Congrats, he can easily destroy your
       | career before it even started.
        
         | blackeyeblitzar wrote:
         | This is the norm in all US universities, not just the top ones.
         | The advising professors regularly take advantage of their
         | position and power over students. It's not everyone but
         | incredibly common.
        
         | wnoise wrote:
         | New job limits the damage a lot though. Until tenure is
         | overstating things.
        
         | ktallett wrote:
         | Of course it's newsworthy, it's abuse, as was your situation
         | and experience and it should always be highlighted.
        
       | ktallett wrote:
       | Academic institutes on the whole are extremely unusual beasts
       | with a range of abusive relationships fueling their success.
       | That's usually students and lecturers, but staff on fixed length
       | contracts and heads of departments are no better. It's always a
       | power dynamic issue and those who are committing the abuse has
       | never had anyone say, this is bad and not acceptable. Also those
       | in charge at universities seem to rarely be at risk of losing
       | their job, whilst those being abused can lose their opportunity
       | in a moment.
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-14 23:02 UTC)