MY WORST MOMENT When the professor closed the door to his office and began the conversation with, “I want you to know that I have had a vasectomy.” He then proceeded to offer me a doctoral fellowship to work as his assistant. I told him that I would have to consider all that he had told me that day and …
My Name is Layla
MY WORST MOMENT Professor “Player” took advantage of me while I was new at the school and vulnerable. This included a one night stand. He dumped me shortly after as he had already gotten what he wanted. The math department also opted out of hiring me. Professor “Benedict” from my department, the forensics department, was quite enraged when I told …
My Name is S. Campbell
MY WORST MOMENT There are two: During the last block of my first year in med school, when I was told that I would have to file a formal complaint against a student who had sexually harassed me and eventually sexually abused a cadaver in front of me. The dean asked if I had the time and could handle the …
My Name is EmpoweredFemme
MY WORST MOMENT Being told that I was such a good consultant that I deserved a top project and would be invited to bid for consulting with a large chemical global major - it would have been an excellent project for my business. Closely followed by a conversation that went along the lines of… I’m not good with commitment, my …
My Name is Anonymous
MY WORST MOMENT When reporting harassment and retaliation of an employee whom I supervised a decision was made to not terminate the employee. Since then it’s clear that they are very supportive of the employee even warranting a promotion and the damage continues to wreak havoc on my working relationships with my superiors and peers some aware and others unaware …
My Name is Karen
MY WORST MOMENT So many. The last conversation I had with him was the day after I passed my qualifying exam and was officially a PhD Candidate. When he told me after I passed my exam that “I don’t know what to do with you now, I was hoping ‘the system’ would ‘take care of’ you.” He then told me …
My Name is Colleen
MY WORST MOMENT It’s so hard to choose. I reported on the sexism and racism of a colleague who was abusing a position of power over students, and I have faced more than a decade of retaliation ever since. Maybe the worst moments are when things seem to be going okay and I allow myself to imagine that the institution …
My Name is Rose
MY WORST MOMENT My worst moment was a series of events. My adviser told me to start working on what topic I would want to pursue for the rest of my PhD, as the foundation to drafting my proposal for my general exam. I would spend hours pouring over the literature and gathering my ideas together, stop by her office, …
My Name is Summer
MY WORST MOMENT I was 19 years old. I worked in a molecular biology laboratory for the summer. One of the lab techs was my supervisor. He was from India and in his early thirties. When I would answer the phone he would call me “baby”. When I assisted him in his mice sacrifices, he would tell me that there …
My Name is Lori
MY WORST MOMENT I had moved from clinical trials to basic science so I could get more intellectual freedom. I chose to study these little worms (C. elegans) because you can look at biology happen in real-time. My supervisor sent me to a small meeting to get to know some ‘movers and shakers’.On my second night there, they went from …