At least you didn't plagiarize your grad student's work, and then when you got rumbled by the Crampicle, make a really really really tragic blog about it.The Crampicle article is behind the paywall, but since you are all reading this at work, it probably won't matter.
Dude is "no longer in academia" which might account for his inability to write his way out of a wet paper bag. The best part is where his plan to resolve the court case is to have you, the reader, troll the Crampicle's comments section.
I am therefore asking the community to look up The Chronicle article at http://chronicle.com/article/My-Adviser-Stole-My-Research/135694/ and register to provide comments. It should take just a few minutes, particularly for those logged in on a campus that has an online subscription with The Chronicle.A fine idea, and one sure not to backfire.
The article has been posted on other sites without a paywall. Just search for "But those collaborations sometimes disintegrate into competition over".
ReplyDeleteNo such luck with my gradflake doing this. Today we had our first research meeting of the semester, and since our last meeting on November 27 (that's right, 8 weeks ago), he's written 2.5 pages of introduction to his thesis that reads like a halfassed freshperson paper, isn't particularly related to our topic, and makes no mention of any of the data we (actually, mostly I) took. That makes his thesis 2.5 pages long so far, in total. His thesis is due on March 11. I dread that the only way he's going to avoid failing abjectly is for me to write it. I'd let him fail, but for the fell clutch of a meddlesome provost.
ReplyDeleteThe shortest PhD dissertation I've seen was about fifteen pages (math). The longest required more than a ream of paper (humanities). That was back when I was ABD and wandered around the dissertation stacks at my library.
DeleteThe length (or lack of it) would not necessarily be what worried me. I could imagine a lucid, elegant 2.5-page introduction (and an attendant 1-page outline) being a good foundation and a running start for a delightful masters thesis in physics.
Too many grad students have been trained to strive for length, girth, and sometimes even magniloquence in their theses, without having much of an idea about the quality and goodness of the thing. And too many proffies don't know how to gauge quality, so they demand quantity instead to cover their asses.
I dream about seeing a beautiful 5-page dissertation. Utter brilliance. It would be nice to see that.
Quite right, Bubba. But 2.5 pages of dreck is still 2.5 pages of dreck.
DeleteWell, my grad advisor held an endowed chair and won a ton of awards (deserved them too). I was (still am) rather mediocre; hence no reason he'd consider "stealing" my work! :-)
ReplyDeleteWow, what a fucking asshole. "She didn't do any work on the paper, and if she did it was crap anyway and I took it out, so SHE'S stealing from ME so suck on that."
ReplyDeleteHis point about her stealing his work was based on her desire to continue his research project with another advisor. His statement was a hyperbolic but her's was without merit. No, if you don't do the work or I don't use the work you produce because it's crap (or for any other reason for that matter) then you don't get on the paper. You get no points for attendance in grad school.
DeleteYeah, I get that. If it's true, I have no problem with it. I shouldn't have jumped to an insult as my first reaction.
DeleteLooking at it again, I'm still not clear on why, if the student actually did no work/poor quality work, her name was originally going to be on the paper in the first place. Why was it not removed before she decided to work with another advisor?
DeleteSigh. Therein lies the complications, and some of my mistakes. The manuscript (tech report) was produced just before she decided to go to another advisor. Yea, removing her name would have been an alternative. I went the other way and asked if she wanted to be on the subsequent paper because the original intent was to get her involved in what it takes to publish. That remained a constant regardless of her advisor choice.
DeleteBut no good deed goes unpunished and when she decided to go Federal against the University 5 years later, it seemed this was her best attempt at actually having achieved something worth suing over. She never expressed interest in this topic between her departure and the lawsuit.
I was all ready to rip this guy a new one but it sounds like he might be in the right. It's too hard to tell for sure since there's obviously more to this story than the crapicle is providing. Still, I've seen more lazy grad students complain about not getting enough credit than faculty trying to take too much credit. For now, I'm on Team Henninger.
ReplyDeleteHuh, and here I thought you were a scientist who weighed evidence and stuff. His refutation of her claims boils down to "OH NO I DIDENT" and calling her bad person. I don't think either of them comes out looking all that great, but at least she doesn't sound like she's having a tantrum.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, whether somebody sounds like they are having a tantrum doesn't have anything to do with their truthfulness.
DeleteWhat if she is a bad person that would rather litigate than do a bit of work? It's rare, but it does happen. The sad and infuriating thing is that her tantrum is to toss a federal lawsuit at the University and go on a media campaign to local and national news sources to name names and lie about what she did. Do you not see the evil in this?
ReplyDeleteYou are so funny. I love how you posted your blog on reddit and then deleted the thread when things didn't go your way.
DeleteYou want a bunch of strangers to help you restore your reputation? By joining your Twitter?
DeleteAs someone said the other day, "Are we being punk'd?"
Don't know about Reddit. The target isn't strangers. I'm not a big Twitter user. As stated, it's frustrating to have journalists printing things about with giving you a chance to tell your side of the story. This is simply a way to have my story available. And if you don't like it, ignore it. It's just a blog.
DeleteThere are only four of us here. What could we possibly do to help or hurt anyone?
DeleteNot even four of us anymore. Cal used a bad font and Leslie K killed him.
DeleteScott, I hear you. You're in a no win situation. Good luck.
DeleteOuch. Poor Cal.
DeleteLeslie K has earned the right to be called "RGM".
Something rotten going on here, but it's hard to tell whether it involves two toxic personalities or just one (and, if one, which one). I'm pretty sure that fighting it out via press conference/release/interview/blog/blog comment/twitter is not helping matters. Whatever happened to dignified silences? They're not easy to maintain, I realize, but sometimes keeping your head down, doing good work, and letting it all come out in the wash (or, if need be, the courts) has something to be said for it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's a bit hard to work out who's in the wrong here, with the limited information that we have. It could be a case, as you suggest, of two assholes, or maybe just one.
DeleteIt is worth noting, though, that, according to the Chronicle article, the university's own research misconduct committee upheld the student's complaint, and also dismissed the complaint made against the student by Henninger. While we might not have enough information to make a decision, I think it's reasonable to suppose that the committee did have sufficient information.
Unfortunately, they did not, and the Faculty Senate understood this and discarded their investigation. It was an unfortunate situation that has caused a lot of confusion. It really is far more complex than the Chronicle made it out to be. And, again, The Chronicle is only telling one side of the story (note that no professors were interviewed).
DeleteSo the Faculty Senate is right because they agree with you, and the Research Misconduct Committee is wrong because they agree with the student? You'll excuse me if your protestations appear a little too self-serving.
DeleteIt's fine to assert that we may not have the whole story, but you are not exactly an impartial observer in this case either, and we have no more reason to accept your version of events than we do to accept the student's.
No, I'm not impartial, and do not pretend to be so. The issues were largely procedural - the committee mistakenly allowed one side more leniency than the other. It's just like an appeal in the courts. Sometimes the lower courts make mistakes and the upper courts overturn. The issue is that the student is not telling the whole truth to The Chronicle and they did not bother to ask me for my perspective (or the other professor's perspective).
DeleteBut I have to ask. Why do you find my views self-serving, but not the students? Especially when the student is explicitly only telling the part that favors her? At least I've tried to tell the whole story.
How is it you do not find The Chronicle's story self-serving? To round things out, you may want to look up the author. Yea, they really did not want to hear my side of the story. So it was up to me to tell it.
Moderators: I think we need a poll. Team Herringer or Team Ashokkumar. Given the influence this blog can throw around, our community's views need to be made clear.
ReplyDeleteApart from picking either side in this fight, what's the fucking deal with the crapicle calling him Mr. Henninger? He's got a doctorate, no? I understand a local newspaper not following the formalities of academic titles but CHE should be able to figure that out.
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