“But he brings in a lot of grant money”, replied a senior professor to me about an incident where I was bullied by another senior. Several years ago, I was at another scientific institute for my Master’s internship, and a successful professor had just been laid off for sexually assaulting colleagues and students. The rise in similar news across the academic community had me thinking about this: Can we rehabilitate scientists for their misconduct and bad behavior?
We promote scientists all the time for their professional performance. They get better positions, better pay, better recognition, and an overall improved reputation. However, being a great scientist, does not equate to being a great person. Just like any human being, scientist may take advantage of their position of power to harass and bully their colleagues and students (with the majority being women).
The earlier, the better
Often in academia, the accused scientist has a history of misconduct. And the institution where they work often have a file of this history, with little to no action being taken at the time of the incident. As the scientist gets more recognition for their professional work, and hence more power, what initially is deemed an insignificant act of misconduct turns into a series of more serious violations with other victims.
To prevent the one-timers from repeatedly aggressing others, and even better to set an example for others not to follow in these footsteps, action needs to be taken. And the earlier, the better. So why not demote these scientists for every bad action, for every misconduct. As such the message would be clear: bad behavior will not bring you forward in your career but will set you back.
Probation
To begin with, if senior scientists bully or harass their students, why keep on offering them opportunities to supervise more students? Instead, they could be put under probation, and not asked to supervise any new students, until it is safe to do so.
A great initiative lately in the U.S. concerns the implementation of a law that makes institutions legally required to inform the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of any harassment incidents or investigations into a grantee. Why don’t all funding agencies around the world move in that direction? Why should a scientist with a tendency to harass and bully their students and colleagues, keep on climbing up the ladder by receiving recognition and grants, to only hurt more vulnerable individuals within their surrounding?
If a scientist commits any wrongdoing (be it bullying or harassment), why not place them on probation? They could potentially be required to follow one-on-one coaching and mentoring sessions in order to improve their behavior in the workplace. They will be rehabilitated.
Demotion
With a promotion, more responsibilities are given to a certain individual. A demotion involves stripping an individual of certain responsibilities. For instance, scientists with red flags could be denied the opportunity to serve on boards and committees, to apply for grants, or even become members of large organizations.
Just like institutions provide support for an individual’s professional and personal growth and career progress, they should be able to put roadblocks in cases where harassment, bullying, or similar misconduct is exercised by any (junior or senior) employee.
Insufficient
Currently, effective policies are either non-existent or insufficient to curb this kind of behavior. Victims want to know that this will not happen again, not to them, nor to anyone else. More policies need to be put in place to create a safe environment for students, for women, and for those that are marginalized in these situations. Solving the issue internally and verbally (as has been the case in the past years), has proven to be insufficient in tackling this issue.
Careers in academia can be short for many students, however they have been very long for several senior scientists that have climbed the academic ladder to higher and more prestigious positions despite or even in spite of their behavior. Just imagine the harm being done to those just passing by. No wonder many are rethinking their stay in academia.
Institutions ought to protect those that are being taken advantage of, and maybe even rehabilitate those that believe that their professional contributions outweigh and mask their unwelcome social behavior.
Katherine Bassil, researcher at the department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology at MHeNs