Thread by @peer_revue

Today I finally get the share a piece I've been working on that's deeply personal to me. I reached out to graduate students across the country and asked them to share their most difficult experiences. It often had nothing to do with their research. massivesci.com/articles/gradu…

There were even worse stories that students wouldn't allow me to publish for fear of being identified - stories of needlessly aggressive behavior, abuse, racism, and sexual harassment, all on the part of so-called advisors whom they relied upon for letters of recommendation.

I want to thank everyone who opened up to me about their hardships. These stories are too common to dismiss as isolated "bad apples". There are systemic problems in academia that must be addressed.

The pressure to publish and dependence of students on their PIs to advance their careers creates deeply toxic environments that enable abuse and exploitation. But in some schools, graduate worker unions have provided some protections to their students.

Getting a PhD is supposed to be hard. But when 1 in 10 students consider suicide you have a problem.

Talk to your department about mental health.

I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the students who opened up to me. I also want to thank @joepalca, @maddie_sofiam, and everyone in the NPR Scicommers group for helping me develop this piece. And thanks to @d_samorodnitsky and everyone at @massivesci for their input.

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