August 23, 2012

We were in the wrong place at the wrong time...

I and my friends were bullied at Southampton University. We had no intention on competing with these academics, these bullies, but their actions have affected the rest of our lives. 

Angela had a nervous breakdown and never completely recovered.  She can work but she’s wary of academics. When she’s asked for a transcript since she intended to apply to graduate school in US the university provided one that listed courses that she never took! 

Theresa was told by her MA supervisor that he’d given her thesis another academic since 'he needed to increase the number of publications' since her thesis was ‘good’. She removed her MA from her CV, never again worked in that sub-field, and did a PhD at her undergraduate institution. 

Lucy can only work as a temp since the University refuses to give her a transcript from her either undergraduate or graduate degree so that she can apply for graduate school in the US, where she now lives, on the grounds that universities in the UK do not provide American style transcripts. This statement is untrue since two British universities have readily supplied American style transcripts to Theresa and I. 

Lucy was sent a letter about her MA but both the name of the MA and the courses listed were different to the ones she’d taken. She objected to these differences and she was told that the letter had to suffice. Lucy cannot apply to graduate school to retrain with a letter since the University she applied to in the US requires a transcript. 

Bill left his funded PhD place in his department after being falsely accused of many things because he thought that it was pointless being paid to be bullied. 

The link below describes my experience:
http://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2010/11/26/guest-writer-29-alicia-colson/

We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
Dr. Alicia Colson

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have 2 master's degrees and a doctorate plus I'm a member of 2 high-IQ societies, one of which is Mensa.

In the department where I used to teach, the head and his assistant threatened me with severe disciplinary action if my students ever addressed me as "Doctor" or if I even wore a Mensa t-shirt. The reason was that this would "intimidate" the students and they would be afraid to approach me. (Funny, it never prevented them from coming to me to yell and complain about their marks.)

I was also threatened with severe disciplinary action if I used my education or intelligence in my courses as I would, according to them, expect too much from my students. At the same time, however, I received the same threat if I didn't.

Punishing me for using my duly-earned title would have been a violation of my rights. The degrees were granted not by the university itself but by the regional government. The university (which is publicly funded) acted on behalf of that government. That made my 2 tormentors even angrier.

No matter what I did, I couldn't please them. I quit shortly after that when I had enough money to set out on my own.

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Anonymous said...

OMG these issues with transcript can be easily resolved. The same happened to me. The college tried to take a revenge on me for four months because i exposed their psychopatic traits and bullying behaviours and i then contacted my local member of parliament and i got the transcript and credits within a week of contacting him!! Solution contact your local member of parliament in UK.