Coping with academic abuse

Abuse in academia is widespread and systemic, affecting individuals from students to supervisors. It manifests in various forms, including power manipulation, discrimination, intimidation, bullying, and exploitation. Reporting is often discouraged due to concerns over institutional reputation and inadequate leadership training. The competitive and hierarchical nature of academia exacerbates vulnerability, especially among junior staff, international students, and minorities. Coping strategies include accepting that abuse is ingrained in the system, assessing the actual power abusers hold, strengthening personal assets to gain independence, and avoiding perpetuation of the abuse cycle. Reliance on institutional remedies like HR is often ineffective, and change (if any) is typically slow.

Abuse in academia is a significant issue that many face but few openly discuss. As many as eight out of ten academics have faced hostile behaviour [0]. Having spent over ten years in academia, I've endured and overcome a lot of abuse. This experience puts me in a position to offer advice to those who need it.

Understanding Abuse in Academia

Abuse is the improper treatment of a person to unfairly gain benefit. It includes physical or verbal mistreatment, injury, assault, or other forms of aggression. Philosophically, as per Kant, abuse involves using someone merely as a means to an end rather than valuing them as an end in themselves. The definition of abuse is socially constructed and can vary across time and space [1].

In academia, abuse comes in many forms and from all directions—supervisors, supervisees, peers, and institutions. Examples include superiors manipulating authorship arrangements for self-interest rather than merit, editors abusing their power to trade favors, students sending racist slurs or violent threats via emails or evaluations, peers showing disrespect, and others misrepresenting your motives. From racist slurs to public defamation and even death threats, the list goes on.

Several factors in academia discourage reporting and addressing abuse, including concerns about institutional reputation and insufficient management training among leaders. The competitive and hierarchical nature of academia makes junior staff especially vulnerable. Moreover, the decentralized structure of academic institutions complicates efforts to seek recourse [2]. Appeals to outside authorities have even been described as the "kiss of death" [3].

A 2021 study of Dutch PhD candidates found that academic abuse is common, including sexual misconduct, discrimination, and violations of scientific standards. About 50% of respondents reported unreasonable workloads, inability to ask critical questions, teasing, intimidation, social exclusion, sexism, racism, and sexually inappropriate behavior [4]. International PhD students are particularly vulnerable, with factors like intense competition for scarce resources, aggressive superiors, envy, and campus politics exacerbating the situation [5]. For instance, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon academic sphere, PhD students are often not employees but students, meaning universities often have no legal obligation to ensure their rights, such as social security or preventive measures against sexual harassment.

These and many other factors have contributed to what has become known as a mental health crisis in academia, affecting especially PhD students [6].

So, what can you do to cope with the widespread abuse in academia?

1. Accept that abuse is ingrained in the academic system

It's not you. It's not them. It's the system.

Many might not like to hear this, but it's important to recognize. This is the hardest part for me, so keep it in mind, and if you accept it within ten years, you've done better than me.

I believe everyone has the capacity to be kind and compassionate. Yet, every year, the list of people I'd rather not interact with grows, while those who've never given me any trouble can be counted on one hand.

This isn't the place to list all the problems in academia—overwhelming workloads, outdated hierarchies with few checks and balances, lack of resources and training—the list goes on. My experience outside academia, though limited, suggests other systems aren't any less abusive.

But it's crucial to understand: it's neither you nor them; it's just how things are. It was like this long before you and will likely remain so after you. You have little influence over it.

"Those who blame others have a long way to go. Those who blame themselves are halfway there. Those who blame no one have arrived." — Chinese proverb

2. Critically evaluate how much power your abuser really has over you

You might be overestimating others people's power over you, often because you care too much about them or their opinions. This means you're giving them power voluntarily.

Though easier said than done, the solution is to care less about them and quickly cut off draining relationships. When people show you who they are, believe them.

Sometimes you're stuck in a relationship with an abuser because you depend on them for a project, paper, dissertation, or tenure. But your dependency isn't eternal. There will come a time when you no longer need that person, and then they can no longer abuse you.

So, develop a plan to exit dysfunctional collaborations as soon as possible. This might mean tolerating a collaborator you dislike until you achieve a needed outcome, walking away from a project, or considering alternative career paths. Only you can decide.

3. Understand and strengthen your sources of power

Your independence protects you from abuse.

Once you realize you can't change systemic abuse and that you give your abuser power voluntarily, you need to build your position by maximizing assets and minimizing liabilities.

Assets are things that give you mobility and enduring value in many places, offering options and flexibility to change your circumstances easily. Examples include a strong network of good relationships, high-quality publications, leadership experience, in-demand skills, and financial independence.

Liabilities are things that limit your mobility, flexibility, and independence. These include internal service tasks no one appreciates, relationships that drain your energy, unnecessary debts or lavish spending, and commitments you don't enjoy.

With many assets and few liabilities, you can walk away when a better opportunity arises—and they always do. Opportunity comes to the prepared mind.

4. Do not perpetuate the cycle of abuse

If you build your career despite the abuse, you may end up in a position of power. When you do, remember that those who come after you don't have to suffer as you did. If you find yourself passing on trauma, work on yourself—or at least step aside for those who can do better. Just because you suffered, doesn't mean those who follow you must suffer, too. Abuse might sharpen you like a blade, but whether you use it for good or bad is up to you.

What does not work

• Do not rely on HR to protect you: Don't fool yourself; HR is there to protect the institution, not you. The system protects itself, not individuals.
• Do not expect rapid change: While I've seen some small improvements, they took years. Universities are large organizations that move slowly, especially on systemic issues. Honestly, I don't believe I'll live to see it.

References

[0] https://www.science.org/content/article/can-academic-bullying-be-stopped

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_bullying_in_academia

[2] Academic, Anonymous (26 January 2018). "We need a bigger conversation about bullying in academia" . The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2018.

[3] Robert Cantwell; Jill Scevak (August 2009). An Academic Life: A Handbook for New Academics . Australian Council for Educational Research. p.?168. ISBN ?978-0-86431-908-1 .

[4] Kapot gemaakt door je eigen universiteit [Destroyed by your own university] (in Dutch). NOS op 3 . 13 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.

[5] Westhues, Kenneth (2004). The Envy of Excellence: Administrative Mobbing of High-Achieving Professors . Lewiston, New York : Edwin Mellen Press . ISBN ?978-0-7734-5979-3 .

[6] https://swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lunewp2024_005.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawFulbhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVOezM42Z-m0crjwDkxZj9f1c_2Y2wh8vVP7Fw8lr-vsoVTd6THEb1Jw3w_aem_22RPWPAg6XWvUwtIfbO-mQ